No price or volume predictions shared for edition, which will sit alongside the existing automatic.

“CHANGING gears on a twisty Kiwi road is going to be a massive buzz in the manual Supra.”

That opinion is voiced by Steve Prangnell, a general manager with Toyota New Zealand responsible for new vehicles and production planning, in confirming expectation that this market will be among those taking the sports coupe with a three-pedal set up and six gears to play with.

The derivative goes into production in July but TNZ will say only that it will avail locally “later this year.”

There’s no word on whether the type will achieve price equity with the $98,990 GR – for Gazoo Racing – Supra with an eight-speed automatic that has been available since 2019.

What’s more a given is that if Supra emulates its most obvious competitor, the Ford Mustang, in percentage of manual take-up, the count of clutch-included cars will be small. Just one in 10 Mustangs sell in that format. But Mustang count here is much greater than the Supra tally: According to registrations statistics, just 54 examples of the Toyota-BMW (it’s also the Z4, remember) have been plated up in distributor-supplied form since release in 2019. And, of those, just over half are with dealers (as demonstrators) and in the head office fleet.

The addition of an alternate choice gearbox times with a modest tweak-up of the Supra that delivers a suspension and steering retune, a different wheel design, three new colours. Another option, of tan leather for the interior, does not appear to be on TNZ’s radar, as its comment specifically mentions red and black leather for the seats.

TNZ says that since GR Supra was launched in 2019, keyboard warriors and motoring writers around the globe have called for a variant manual transmission. They say this is Toyota answering that call.

In supplied comment, Prangnell said the GR Supra already had incredible power and torque and the addition of a manual transmission further enhances it as a key competitor in the high- performance sports car segment.

“Toyota is living up to the promise to make its cars even better with this powertrain change. By allowing the driver to interact with the car and select the optimal gear ratio for the road ahead, the GR Supra driver will enjoy the true delights of a manual, rear wheel drive sports car.”

Aside from Supra, TNZ’s GR line-up here presently includes the GR Yaris and an edition of the land Cruiser 300 Series. It is also taking GR Corolla, which like Yaris is only sold with a manual box. Nothing specific has yet been said about GR 86, once again a co-production with Subaru that offers in manual and auto.

Toyota describes Supra’s manual gearbox as being an intelligent transmission that is able to match engine speeds on up and down shifts for smooth and sporty driving.

The edition achieves a shift light within the central gauge rev counter. This illuminates just before the red zone is reached (around 6000rpm) to notify the driver that it might be a good idea to change up. It can be turned off.

The fitment of new stabiliser bushings and retuned adaptive variable suspension and other chassis control systems are to improve handling performance and ride comfort.

There are three new metaillic exterior colours - Volcanic Ash Grey, Dawn Blue and Avalanche White.