All-New Toyota Supra Tested In Australia Ahead Of 2019 Debut

Just a couple of weeks prior to its public debut at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, Toyota is wrapping up development work for its new generation Supra in Australia.

The new generation Supra was subjected to Australian road conditions in an effort to fine-tune the new model’s suspension set-up.

Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada and his team from Japan put the Supra through its paces over the course of five days, going to places where Supra customers are likely to travel, including sweeping country roads, twisty mountain climbs, and the Great Ocean Road.

Tada-san’s team was also supported by Toyota Australia’s Vehicle Engineering and Development (VED) group.

Tada-san also said that he had been keen to utilize Australia’s roads to achieve the performance targets for the all-new Supra. "We know your drivers tend to favour strong levels of body control and steering feel, particularly for your undulating road surfaces. It's vital the driver feels confident during rough-road cornering and that the car is very stable under braking. Speedo accuracy is also very important,” said Tada-san.

Tada-san went on to say that Australia offered road surfaces that replicated 80 percent of the world’s roads. "I wanted to involve Australia right towards the end of our development program," he said.

Paul Dimandis, head of the local VED group, said that local testing included overall performance and driveability, ride, handling, stability, brakes, seat comfort, and vibration and harshness on coarse-chip bitumen and gravel surfaces.

"We've taken the Supra prototype across a variety of conditions including popular touring destinations because almost half the people we expect to buy a Supra list their number one hobby as holidays and travel," he said.

Closer to home, the all-new Toyota Supra is slated to be introduced in Malaysia some time next year.