LF-A supercar will lend its flavour to the Toyobaru
Toyota's version of the 'Toyobaru' coupe, which it is co-developing with Subaru for a 2010 launch, will take its styling cues from the forthcoming Lexus LF-A supercar.
Specialist Japanese car website 7tune is reporting that the front-engined rear-drive coupe, codenamed 086A, will use the Lexus 'L-Finesse' styling language that has until now been the preserve of Lexus models. The report also suggests that Toyota is keen to keep the domestic-market price of the car as close as possible to two million yen (just under £13k), although the UK price would most likely be closer to £20,000 should the car be officially imported to the UK.
Contrary to previous suggestions, the styling of the Toyota and Subaru models will be very similar, with only minor styling tweaks distinguishing the two cars. Power for the Toyobaru comes from a Subaru-developed 2.0-litre turbocharged flat four developing around 200hp.
The Subaru version is expected for UK sale, but will sit alongside, rather than replace, the Impreza. A rumoured hot STi version is highly unlikely to come to the UK, however, as Subaru is working hard to get its range-wide CO2 emissions down.
LF-A racer - Toyoda-san's Nurburgring wheels
Toyota has not confirmed whether the 086A is heading for Europe, but the signs are positive - Toyota's new president Akio Toyoda is a keen motorsport enthusiast, and raced an LF-A at this year's Nurburgring 24-hour race. He has also told German magazine
that, "this sports culture, which we have neglected for so long, will again be maintained".
A new Toyota for PHers to get excited about? Don't bet against it...
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)