Manual Supra could be on the way

Toyota has the hardware, and it works in right-hand drive - the campaign starts here!

While it may be an ever dwindling appreciation, with affection for automatic gearboxes always on the rise, PistonHeads continues to fly the flag for the manual sports car. We're especially fond of a Japanese, manual sports car, in fact, as typically the shifts are short, precise and mechanical in a way that precious few rivals are - see the Mazda MX-5, Toyota GT86 and Honda Civic Type R for proof. The Japanese seem to care about the satisfaction of a tactile manual gearbox more than most.

Now it seems there could be another on the way, courtesy once more of Toyota and its new Supra. Thought it was going to be auto-only? Us too, although news has now emerged - via Car Advice in Australia - that the hardware exists for a manual, right-hand drive car.

It was confirmed by assistant chief engineer Masayuki Kai, who said: "We have developed it, yes, there is hardware ready. Right-hand drive? Yes, of course. It needs to be sold in Japan, which is a right-hand drive market". That said, the manual is not yet confirmed for production, Kai suggesting a decision on its viability was "depending on feedback from the market". The only powertrain announced thus far is the turbocharged straight-six with eight-speed ZF auto.

No doubt that will prove popular, the engine and gearbox already proven in BMWs and the Supra impressing in prototype form, but imagine what a manual could be like. A BMW straight-six with a Japanese manual gearbox in a rear-wheel drive sports car sounds pretty fabulous, doesn't it? Whichever way feedback can make it to Toyota, let's make it so - a manual Supra must return!