GT Spirit reported earlier today (March 12, 2013) that the chief engineer of the Toyota GT-86 (Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ) confirmed that a more powerful Scion FR-S is in the works. Ever since the Scion FR-S hit the market a few months ago, fans and owners have been clamoring for more power. But from what we've heard over the grapevine in Toyota is that they simply don’t want to ruin what they have, which is the best handling affordable sports car to come to market in years. The aftermarket already has satisfied the tuner heads who want to bolt on an extra 70 horsepower with turbocharging and supercharging kits from the likes of HKS and Greddy ( based out of Irvine,Calif.)
According to Tada,
“I’ve been asked a lot about a turbocharging. We are already working on a mid-life facelift for the car, and we are investigating both turbocharging and supercharging too. But an electric motor assistance solution is also possible, and would bring benefits that forced induction does not.”
When approached by Top Gear to expound upon the possibility of a KERS-Hybrid type setup, Tetsuya Tada agreed with the reasoning and power gains that would come from such a setup,
"“I think 300 hp with a turbo would be tasteless in this day and age. And a turbo would mean the loss of the GT86′s uniqueness.We’re looking at a next-generation hybrid. More like the TS030 Le Mans Prototype. We’re looking into that possibility.”
The Toyota TS030 Hybrid is a motor racing car developed under Le Mans Prototype rules. The car ran at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, with two cars being entered in the LMP1 category, and became the first hybrid car to be entered in the FIA World Endurance Championship.The car features the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) regenerative braking device.
In addition, Toyota wanted to be sure that it could hit all it’s sales targets before moving forward with a convertible and other developments that they saw fit. Now that a convertible is in the works, they can focus on some much needed power.
Source: GT Spirit
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