The Toyota GR Supra was always the most obvious candidate to join the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro on the Supercars grid. But who could be next?
Not to be greedy, but with Toyota now confirmed, it’s hard not to turn your mind to the other candidates to join the sport. While you may think there are a lot of would-be Supercars racers sitting in dealer showrooms, once you look at the criteria they need to meet and the individual aspirations and limitations of each brand, a narrower field emerges.
Here are our five favourites we’d like to see join the Supercars grid.
READ MORE: Toyota and Supercars – everything you need to know
Nissan Z
By far the most obvious ‘next man up’ the Z is the GR Supra’s most direct rival, but is a sports car icon in its own right. Frankly, it’s a good looking car that would make a great Supercar, especially if the old Kelly Racing V8 engine program can be resurrected and updated for the Gen3 rules; thus reducing one of the barriers to entry.
READ MORE: 2022 Nissan Z review
The challenge will be the brand’s last experience of Supercars was less-than-positive (and not particularly competitive) and local management has yet to show the kind of interest Toyota boss Sean Hanley has in Supercars over recent years.
Genesis G70 Magma
Fresh from the news it will join the World Endurance Championship with its own LMDh program, Hyundai’s luxury brand is another obvious potential target for Supercars.
READ MORE: What Hyundai’s ‘ambitious’ racing plans reveal
Genesis has big aspirations but so far has attracted little attention from consumers. Making itself more overt by racing at Bathurst, Adelaide and beyond could certainly help change that.
Especially as it launches its new Magma performance sub-brand, which is due to roll-out across every model in its range. That should include the BMW 3-Series-sized G70 sedan, which would be the most logical fit for a Supercar entry (even if it isn’t a coupe).
Hyundai N
While the Genesis luxury brand may be a tough sell, Hyundai itself could have the potential to go racing. While nothing has been confirmed, the brand has made little secret of its desire to introduce a bespoke sports car into its line-up. There was originally talk of a mid-engine, petrol-powered Porsche 718 Cayman rival, but more recently the N Vision 74 concept attracted plenty of attention with its retro looks and futuristic hydrogen powertrain.
Hyundai has long been a challenger to Toyota but hasn’t been able to dramatically close the gap. With an all-new electric ute on the way in the coming years, if it does add a sports car, going head-to-head on track with the GR Supra while also rivalling Toyota in the showroom seems like a great opportunity for the South Korean brand.
Mercedes-AMG CLE 63
Why would a German luxury brand want to go racing against Ford and Toyota? That’s one of two major stumbling blocks for Mercedes. Aside from the potential image damage, the second challenge is its successful (global) GT3 and GT4 programs makes building a bespoke racing car for Australia a hard one to justify.
But… having suffered an underwhelming response to its new four-cylinder plug-in hybrid hero model, the C63 Sedan, it needs to remind the performance car loving world that AMG means business. The new CLE Coupe is expected to spawn a V8-powered AMG variant in the near future and such a model would make an ideal Supercars platform.
Honda Civic Type R
Ok, this is the most radical suggestion, given the Civic Type R is neither a coupe nor a rear-wheel drive vehicle. But the front-wheel drive hot hatch is a modern performance icon and would certainly not look out of place going wheel-to-wheel with the GR Supra.
READ MORE: Honda Civic Type R review
What’s more, Honda has no trouble turning this hot hatch into a rear-wheel drive racing car, as demonstrated by its Super GT entry. Granted is a more open rule book than Supercars and Honda’s domestic series, but it shows that nothing is impossible when it comes to going racing if the desire is there.
Whether Honda Australia has the resources or desire to go to that effort is the biggest question mark. The brand has struggled in recent years since taking all of its sales process in-house, so funding a Supercars program would be unlikely.
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