New Toyota Supra will be twinned with Mazda's RX successor – report

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Mazda will build a new sports car powered by its new inline six-cylinder petrol engine, if a new overseas report is to be believed.

According to Japan's Best Car, who does not name its source, the uncovered information points to Mazda ditching a rotary powertrain for its new flagship sports car, and instead opting for what is expected to be a version of the 3.3-litre turbo-petrol straight six already found in models like the CX-60.

Under the bonnet of the CX-60, as well as the platform-sharing CX-80, the engine produces 209kW/450Nm but in the CX-70 and CX-90, the figures reach 254kW/500Nm.

For reference, Mazda's last sports car hero model, the RX-8 discontinued in 2012, produced 170kW/211Nm from its 1.3-litre rotary engine, while the older RX-7 made use for a twin-turbocharged engine to produce up to 195kW/294Nm in factory form.

Best Car states the new Mazda sports car will retain the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout as its RX predecessors, but why is the Japanese brand suddenly gung-ho about a new performance hero?

The answer is its relationship with Toyota, which has been ongoing for nearly a decade and seen rebadged Yaris Hybrid models sold in Europe as Mazda 2s, conversely rebadged Mazda 2s sold in the US under Toyota’s now-defunct Scion brand, and Toyota's hybrid system used in the US-market CX-50.

In fact, the two brands share a production facility Alabama, US that produces the Toyota Corolla Cross and Mazda CX-50.

Toyota's current, fifth-generation Supra – which shares its engine, platform, gearbox, key interior components, and production line with the BMW Z4 – is in its last year of production with a Final Edition variant to see the model out.

And while global executives have remained tight-lipped on the Supra's future, Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley let slip that a new-generation version is coming and likely already under development.

"Let me tell you: Supra as a model, that is not stopping," Hanley said late last year.

"People always say 'when's the new model?' but the day we launch a new model we start to think about the next one – you'll have to wait and see when the new one's coming.

"But I'm tell you now – Supra keeps going."

Hanley made the statement during the Bathurst 1000 race last year, with Toyota confirmed to enter the V8 Supercars Championship racing series from 2026 with the Supra powered by a V8 petrol engine sourced from Lexus.

A new Supra – which, currently, in production form is also a front-engined, rear-drive coupe powered by an inline six-cylinder engine – dovetails neatly with the Japanese report about a new Mazda sports car.

With Toyota, the world's largest car maker by volume, not able to justify the resurrection of its hallowed Supra nameplate without help from BMW, it would make sense for the brand to team up again to amortise the high cost (and low volume potential) of another sports car.

And with Mazda long flirting with the idea of another RX halo, as evidenced by the 2015 RX-Vision concept, the timing seems right for both brands to introduce new sports cars.

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