- toyota built a one-off 2021 supra sport top for the virtual sema show this year, based on the heritage edition from last year's show.
- a shop in fort worth, texas, cut off the roof, and toyota's north america r&d center in michigan provided 3d-printed roof panels.
- the supra sport top is powered by a 3.0-liter inline six with a modified factory turbo.
toyota built a one-off 2021 supra sport top, which is essentially a targa-top variant, for the virtual sema aftermarket trade show this year. the car pays homage to the open-roof a80 supras of the 1990s. when asked if the build should get our hopes up for a coming open-top variant for the current-gen supra, which is a 2021 10best winner, toyota told car and driver that it's "just an awesome one-off concept. nothing forward-looking to announce."
the supra sport top is based on the heritage edition that was shown at sema last year, huge wing and all, but kc's paint shop in fort worth, texas, chopped off the roof, while the two contoured roof panels, which can be stored in the trunk, were 3d printed at toyota motor north america r&d headquarters in ann arbor, michigan. the team in plano, texas, added the latches and clamps and also reinforced the body to account for the roof loss. additionally, the paint shop finished off the custom bodywork and coated the supra in a paint mix to match the factory option absolute zero white. it's equipped with round taillights, 19-inch hre wheels wrapped in toyo proxes rubber, and brembo brakes.
a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six sourced from bmw powers the supra, and for the 2021 model year it produces 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque, up 47 horsepower and 3 pound-feet from the 2020 model. the more powerful supra 3.0 launched to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds in our testing and raced through the quarter-mile in 12.1 seconds at 117 mph. a toyota spokesperson explained that the sport top “doesn’t go as extreme as the heritage edition,” for “the kind of customer that simply wants to bolt things on, in this case, a downpipe and a full exhaust.” it doesn't have the heritage edition's modified factory turbo, though it has a dual center-exit exhaust and a more efficient rear diffuser.
we hope that toyota eventually adds a removable-roof option to the fifth-generation supra, mostly because we want to amplify the cracks and pops of the exhaust without suffering from its buffeting with the windows down. that's only one of our few gripes with the new supra, though.