The Toyota GR Supra is headed to the European market with a 2.0 litre engined variant, the Japanese automaker has announced, and production of this smaller capacity version is ‘due to commence shortly’ with global sales to begin in March this year. The European market will receive the higher of the two states of tune for the 2.0 litre turbocharged inline-four engine announced at the car’s global debut exactly a year ago.

This would be the B48 unit producing 258 hp between 5,000 rpm and 6,500 rpm, and 400 Nm of torque between 1,550 rpm and 4,400 rpm; this output variant is known in the Japan market as the SZ-R. In effect, these output figures are identical to those from the G29 BMW Z4 sDrive30i and the G20 BMW 330i which we get here in Malaysia.

Outputs are sent to the rear wheels via a ZF 8HP51 eight-speed automatic transmission, and the 0-100 km/h run is elapsed in 5.2 seconds. Exhaust CO2 emissions are 172 g/km on the WLTP test cycle, with combined fuel consumption rated at 6.3 l/100 km on the NEDC cycle.

Weight reduction is the obvious benefit here on the 2.0 litre car compared to its 3.0 litre inline-six-powered sibling, and Toyota says the smaller-engined version weighs in at 1,395 kg (kerb weight without driver), or 100 kg less than the six-pot. This helps the Supra attain its ideal 50:50 weight distribution, says Toyota.

The 2.0 litre GR Supra features the same ‘golden ratio’ for optimum handling performance, notes Toyota, referring to the ratio of 1.55 between the wheelbase and track width. The 2.0 litre Supra has wheelbase of 2,470 mm, while front and rear track widths are 1,594 mm and 1,589 mm respectively. Suspensions remains a MacPherson strut setup in front and a five-link setup at the rear, with electrically assisted rack-and-pinion steering.

Brakes are 330 mm ventilated discs with floating calipers front and rear as standard, while the Sport pack employs 348 mm front discs with four-pot fixed calipers in front and 345 mm discs at the back. A number of equipment packs can be specified for the European market 2.0 litre Supra. This will be offered in Live specification as a base, featuring 18-inch alloy wheels, a four-speaker audio system with an 8.8-inch display and black Alcantara sports seats as standard.

The included safety suite includes Pre-Crash Safety with Braking Function, Pedestrian and Cyclist detection with Braking Function, Lane Keep Assist [LKA] with Active Steering, Road Sign Assist and an Intelligent Speed Assist. Additional equipment packs include the Connect pack, which features satellite navigation and connectivity to online services, while the Sport pack adds an active rear differential, adaptive suspension and the aforementioned uprated brakes.

The Premium pack rounds up the kit list, and includes a 12-speaker JBL premium sound system, head-up display, wireless smartphone charger, black leather upholstery and power seat adjustment with memory setting. The Premium pack draws from the Connect pack, while adding to the cars storage and lighting features, says Toyota.

The European arrival of the 2.0 litre A90 Supra is commemorated by the Fuji Speedway limited edition model, which comes in a white metallic exterior paint finish and 19-inch matte black alloys with red side mirror housings. Inside, the Fuji Speedway edition gets carbon-fibre dashboard trim inserts with red and black Alcantara upholstery. This version comes with the full complement of equipment from the Connect and Sport packs, and is limited to a run of 200 units in Europe.

The Toyota GR Supra received a warm welcome in Europe, with 1,150 cars sold on the continent by the end of 2019. A 95% majority plumped for the higher specification models, Toyota said.

In Malaysia, the fifth-generation, 3.0 litre Toyota Supra arrived in September with a price tag from RM568,000 in sole GTS specification, which yields 340 PS and 500 Nm of torque. Our man Jonathan Lee has sampled the modern-day Japanese icon here in Malaysia; watch the video below to find out what we think of it.

-paultan