New Rumors Emerge About the 2021 Subaru BRZ, Toyota 86 Sports Cars

5 years, 3 months ago - 19 September 2019, autoevolution

At first, the rumor mill and motoring media were reporting that Toyota couldn’t make a business case for another generation of the 86.

But Subaru stepped onto the scene, confirming that development is underway for the boxer-engined sports cars with rear-wheel drive.

Toyota officials then mirrored the Japanese partner's view in regard to the Gen 2, but specific details in regard to the Hachi-Roku and BRZ haven't been made public. Torque News cites a couple of overseas reports in regard to the 2021 models, starting with "previews at the Tokyo Motor Show next month."

Both automakers are known to prepare concepts for every edition of the local motor show, and that's fairly believable in our book. Something that doesn't add up is a report that claims "the new GA-B platform can use either a torsion beam or multi-link rear suspension system that the BRZ and 86 will use."

We've talked about the TNGA GA-B vehicle architecture only recently, and Toyota has even provided a rolling chassis for us to analyze and imagine the possibilities. Not only is the platform too short for the boxer twins, but there's no driveshaft connecting the engine up front to a diff at the rear axle.

The truth of the matter is, the B-segment chassis is built around a transverse engine and front-wheel drive. Subaru developed the platform for the BRZ, 86, and FR-S back when Scion was still a thing, and in case you were wondering, F stands for front-engined, R for rear-wheel drive, and S for sporty.

Current-gen cars are built upon a modified Impreza platform, not the Subaru Global Platform of today. The SGP can't be converted to RWD according to a source, which leads us to believe that the outgoing architecture will be upgraded or something else from the TNGA series will make do.

Only the GA-N and GA-L are compatible with rear-wheel drive, but both platforms are too large for the BRZ or 86 in their current format. Also worhty of note, the e-TNGA is an upcoming architecture for electric vehicles, scheduled to underpin everything from small cars to large SUVs.

Given that it's hard to convert the e-TNGA to internal combustion, our money is on the outgoing platform with a few modifications here and there. Another scenario would be the New N or GA-N from the RC and upcoming RC, but only if Toyota can shorten the platform enough to suit a small sports car.