Toyota Supra manual rumors heat up in new report from Japan

Rumors of a manual Toyota Supra are swirling yet again thanks to a report from Japan indicating that production of a 3.0-liter inline-six model with a six-speed could happen a soon as early 2022. 

This time, the report comes to us by way of Australia's Drive, who spotted the note on Japanese blog carsensor.net indicating that a manual transmission is on the way for a special GRMN Supra model powered by a high-output version of the car's BMW-engineered 3.0-liter S58. This isn't the first time such rumors have come up, and it probably won't be the last – unless it's true, of course. 

As Autoblog previously reported, the coming BMW M3 and M4 will offer a manual transmission with lower-powered trims of the S58 engine, so it's possible the unicorn limited-edition Supra does the same. On the other hand, last May BMW announced a manual transmission for the new Z4 in Europe, that roadster powered by the low-output version of the same 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder sold in the Z4 and the Supra here. Hence the Supra could get a stick shift, but one mated to a four-cylinder and not the six. A left-field option mentioned elsewhere has Toyota securing the 405-hp S55 inline-six from the current M2 Competition, along with that car's six-speed manual, considering the BMW coupe is due for replacement shortly. 

We urge you to take this one with a huge grain of salt, as usual, but we can't entirely rule it out either, especially with the looming threat of Nissan's cheaper, manual-transmission Z-car on the horizon.