Toyota working on smaller sports car below 86

Toyota has revealed it has started work on a smaller sports car to sit under the hugely successful Toyota 86. The car’s chief engineer, Tetsuya Tada, told Drive recently during his trip to Australia.

“We have started on the car below the 86. It is not yet decided if it will be two-seat or two-plus-two; we are developing the concept now,” said Tada.

This is music to sports car fans, especially those of Toyota’s. The company isn’t new to the realm, with the Toyota Celica, MR2 and Supra all being relatively successful and well loved. In the next several years, the Japanese giant will once again have a trio of fun to drive sports car in its lineup. Although they may not share the same name as their predecessors, if the 86 is anything to go by, we will have something great to look forward to.

He went on to reveal that the new entry-level sports car will be lightweight and feature rear-wheel drive. Tada also confirmed that all three Toyota sports cars will have rear-wheel drive.

The manufacturer is set to unveil a new performance concept at next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show that is said to leverage technology employed in Toyota’s TS030 Hybrid Le Mans prototype (above).