The Supra grew out of a request from North American Toyota dealerships for a competitor to the popular Datsun 280Z. Toyota's answer was the Celica XX — pronounced "double X" in its Japanese home market — introduced in 1978 and exported under the Celica Supra name. Based on the Celica liftback but lengthened by 129.5 mm to accommodate an inline-six engine, the car was produced at the Tahara plant in Aichi. Engine options in the first generation included 2.0-litre and 2.6-litre SOHC inline-six units with electronic fuel injection, and the car was offered with either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. Both transmissions featured an overdrive gear. A 2.8-litre 5M-E engine was introduced in 1980 for the 1981 model year, raising power to 116 hp.
Toyota completely redesigned the Celica Supra for the 1982 model year. Distinguishing features of the A60 included fully retractable pop-up headlights and a new 2.8-litre DOHC 5M-GE engine producing 145 hp in initial North American tune, rising to 160 hp by the 1984 model year. In the North American market, buyers could choose between the Performance Type (P-type) and Luxury Type (L-type), differentiated by trim, wheel size, and optional equipment. The Celica XX of this era introduced what Toyota claimed was the world's first navigation computer. Production of the A60 ended in December 1985. The A60 won Import Car of the Year from Motor Trend and appeared on Car and Driver's Ten Best list for 1983 and 1984.
In February 1986, the Supra separated definitively from the Celica, which had switched to front-wheel drive. The A70 retained rear-wheel drive and received Toyota's new 3.0-litre 7M-GE DOHC inline-six engine producing 200 hp, with a turbocharged 7M-GTE version rated at 231 hp added for the 1987 model year. The third generation introduced a targa top option, Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension (TEMS), and the Acoustic Control Induction System (ACIS). Total production of the GA70/MA70/JZA70 Supra was estimated at 241,471 units.
For motorsport, Toyota produced the Turbo-A as its Group A homologation variant — manufactured over just two months from September to October 1988 and available only in Japan. Only eleven MA70 Group-A cars were built by TRD Japan for racing use. In the Japanese Touring Car Championship the TOM's team won on the Supra's debut in 1987, though the car struggled against lighter and more powerful rivals including the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500, Nissan Skyline HR31 GTS-R, and BMW M3. The dominance of the Nissan Skyline GT-R R32 from 1989 onward effectively ended the Supra's Group A campaign. Australian team Fitzgerald Racing won the inaugural Bathurst 12 Hour in March 1991 in a Supra.
Development of the A80 began in February 1989 under chief engineer Isao Tsuzuki, with mass production commencing in April 1993. The fourth generation shared its platform with the Soarer coupe — sold in the United States as the Lexus SC — though the Supra was more than 13 inches shorter. Two new engines were offered: a naturally aspirated 2JZ-GE producing 220 hp and a sequential twin-turbocharged 2JZ-GTE producing 280 hp for the Japanese market and 325 hp for export markets. The turbo's sequential arrangement routed all exhaust gases to a single turbine at low rpm for reduced lag, achieving 300 lb-ft of torque as early as 1,800 rpm, before the second turbo came on stream at 4,000 rpm.
Turbo models received a new six-speed Getrag/Toyota V160 gearbox. The turbocharged variant could reach 97 km/h from rest in as low as 4.6 seconds and complete a quarter mile in 13.1 seconds. Car and Driver tested its braking at a 70 mph to zero distance of 149 ft — the best of any production car tested in 1997, a record that stood until 2004 when a Porsche Carrera GT bettered it by four feet. In the JGTC, Toyota Racing Development created only 35 examples of the road-legal TRD 3000GT, a replica of the BLITZ Racing Team Supra GT500 race car featuring widened bodywork and an officially reclassified VIN plate.
Sales of the A80 in North America declined through the late 1990s as sport coupe demand fell and a strong yen pushed prices up. The car was withdrawn from Canada in 1996 and the United States in 1998. Japanese production continued until August 2002, when restrictive emissions standards ended the run.
Development of the fifth-generation Supra began in 2010, and in January 2014 Toyota previewed the direction with the FT-1 concept. The production car was revealed at the January 2019 North American International Auto Show as the GR Supra, part of Toyota's Gazoo Racing performance family, and went on sale in May 2019. Co-developed with BMW and sharing the platform and many components with the G29 BMW Z4, the GR Supra is manufactured at the Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria. Toyota used the internal designations A90 and A91 for marketing purposes to preserve the generational lineage.
For the 2023 model year, Toyota introduced new driving modes including Hairpin+, which permits additional wheelspin on one rear tyre to help rotate the car through tight hairpin corners, along with a manual transmission option. In November 2024, Toyota announced that GR Supra production would conclude in March 2026, with special final editions released for Japan, Europe, and the United States.
The fifth-generation GR Supra appeared on Car and Driver's 10Best list for 2020, 2021, and 2023, won MotorWeek's Best Sports Coupe award in 2020 and 2021, took Auto Bild's Golden Steering Wheel for Best New Sports Car in 2019, and was named Car of the Year by Esquire in 2019.
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