New Sports Car Trio Rumoured for Tokyo Motor Show

The Tokyo Motor Show is coming up in October, and it's shaping up to be the show of the year for fans of Japanese sports cars. Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda are all said to be sending new sports cars to the show.

The first is the long-awaited new Toyota Supra. Reports of that car appearing at the Tokyo show have been circulating all year. It shares a platform with the upcoming BMW roadster, and since BMW showed their car at Pebble Beach last week it makes sense that Toyota would soon follow. And their home show seems like the place to do it.

As far as what's powering the Supra, we've seen very conflicting reports. Leaked documents from BMW suggest that the Supra and BMW Z will share engines, and the Toyota will be automatic only. But an off-road forum member allegedly spoke with a Toyota engineer earlier this month who said that Toyota's own V6 would be under the hood, with over 400 hp, and that there would be a manual. Either way, we look forward to finding out.

German publication Auto Bild reports that the other two will be a Mazda rotary-powered car, likely called the RX-9, and a new Nissan Z car. We've seen looks at a new RX-9 study, and rumours have been flying about the new car, but with no spy photos yet, we'll have to wait and see.

The report says that the next Nissan Z, possibly called the 390Z, will be just a design study at Tokyo. A concept, not a production car. It is supposedly based on the GT-R, and will get a price and performance boost to move up from the budget performance class where it currently resides.

The Tokyo Motor Show runs October 25 to November 5.