Toyota is Reportedly Already Working on a Supercharged GT 86

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This week Toyota officially unveiled the GT 86 and the Scion FR-S rear-wheel-drive sport coupe, which is slated to go on sale in the spring in the U.S. Now there are already reports surfacing that Toyota is already working on a supercharged version of the coupe.

According to Chief engineer Tetsuo Tada, test cars have already been produced and are being tested by Toyota Racing Development (TRD). According to Tada, Toyota is leaning more towards a supercharged version of the GT 86 because it won’t wreck the throttle response of the engine, like a single turbocharger might. Tada also stated, “turbocharging along with four-wheel drive and wide tires are what make sports cars boring to drive.”

Toyota has a lot of experience with supercharging, since TRD has been offering forced induction systems as an aftermarket kit since 1998. It’s not known if the supercharger for the GT 86/ FR-S would be sold straight from the factory, or if it would be an aftermarket TRD kit. It also hasn’t been confirmed how much extra power the supercharger will add to the 197 horsepower 2.0L engine, but Toyota claims that the current chassis can easily handle another 50 horsepower. TRD is also looking at ways to beef up the suspension to handle even more power.

Autocar