Toyota Launches Sports Car GR Supra in Korea... Limited Sale of 30 Units This Year (Comprehensive)

First New Sports Car of the Year, GR Supra Released
New Model Launch After 8 Months Since Boycott
Equipped with 3.0L Inline 6-Cylinder Engine... Maximum Output 340 Horsepower
Toyota: "We Will Achieve Customer Satisfaction Beyond the Boycott"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Toyota Korea is revitalizing its domestic sales with the launch of the sports car GR Supra. The GR Supra is the 5th generation authentic sports car revived after 17 years and is planned to be sold in a limited quantity of 30 units domestically this year.

On the 21st, Toyota Korea held the launch event for the authentic sports car GR Supra at Connect Two, an automotive culture space located in Jamsil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, and officially began sales. This is the first time Toyota has introduced a new car to the domestic market in eight months since the launch of the New Prius in June last year. After launching models such as the Lexus UX (March), Toyota RAV4 (May), and New Prius (June) in the first half of last year, Toyota experienced a hiatus in new car releases due to the intensifying boycott of Japanese products.

As a result of the boycott, sales of Japanese cars dropped by about 19% last year, with Toyota experiencing a significant decline of 36% due to its high sales volume the previous year. Unlike other Japanese brands that defended their market share with strong discount promotions, Toyota kept a low profile in the second half of last year without much marketing.

This year, Toyota plans to launch four new models in the first half and resume aggressive marketing. Starting with the GR Supra launched on this day, a limited edition of 200 units of the mid-size sedan Camry’s sporty XSE model will be sold in mid-February, followed by the introduction of the Prius all-wheel-drive model and Prius C crossover in mid-March.

Kang Daehwan, Marketing Director at Toyota Korea, said, "While diplomatic issues clearly contributed to the decline in sales last year, we are considering many aspects to exceed customer satisfaction." He added, "In fact, the models decided for sales this year are not all major models. We will strive to provide a unique car life in markets where there is customer demand, no matter how small, in line with our brand slogan 'Enjoy Your Style.'"

The GR Supra introduced on this day is the 5th generation authentic sports car revived after 17 years since production ended in 2002. It features a 3.0-liter inline 6-cylinder engine delivering a maximum output of 340 horsepower and a peak torque of 51 kg·m.

Tada Tetsuya, Senior Engineer at Toyota Headquarters who attended the event, said, "While recreating the Supra after 17 years, we focused on developing it with the belief that the Supra’s DNA of an inline 6-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive (FR) layout must be preserved."

The 'GR' in GR Supra stands for Toyota’s motorsport division 'Gazoo Racing' and represents an active model that offers driving enjoyment. It optimally combines three elements?wheelbase, tread (tire contact patch), and center of gravity height?to provide stable handling and cornering suitable for sports driving.

Senior Engineer Tetsuya said, "In sports car structure, properly managing the three elements of wheelbase, tread, and center of gravity height can influence 80% of handling performance. We achieved stability by establishing a much lower center of gravity than previous models."

The exterior design inherits the silhouette of Toyota’s classic sports car 2000GT, developed with a 'long nose, short deck' concept featuring a long front and short rear. It is equipped with active sound control that changes the engine sound according to the driving mode, enhancing driving pleasure.

The instrument panel is designed to be horizontally long, securing a wide forward view, and paddle shifters and essential driving buttons are placed close to the driver to minimize eye movement. The interior design, including high-back sports seats that reduce body sway, knee pads on the console, and an intuitive steering wheel, is designed to help the driver focus on driving.

A 1.8-inch full-color head-up display allows easy access to various information while driving, and various preventive safety technologies such as forward collision warning, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, and adaptive high beam system are applied to assist safe driving.

The domestic launch price of Toyota’s 5th generation GR Supra is 73.8 million KRW.