Live or Die: What's the Real Deal With the Toyobaru Twins?

January was peppered with claims that the Subaru BRZ And Toyota 86 aren’t long for this world. Rumors, which began spreading last year, stated the models weren’t selling well enough for either brand to rationalize continued sales, and those rumblings came to a head during the North American International Auto Show. There, seemingly every outlet asked engineers and executives what’s to become of them.

This week, outlets began reporting that Japanese automotive tabloid Best Car is preparing an article for its upcoming February issue explaining that Subaru and Toyota have “deviated on their development policies” and plan to break their collaboration on the Toyobaru twins.

It makes sense. Both models, each in production since 2012 (and largely unchanged since), have underperformed in terms of sales, especially lately. But things aren’t as simple as they might seem. Subaru has already said that Toyota pulling out wouldn’t mean an “immediate death sentence” for the BRZ. Toyota clarified a few things since then, too.

Hoping to debunk rumors of the 86 coupe’s demise, CarScoops reached out to Toyota’s U.S. spokesperson, Nancy Hubbell. “As [Toyota CEO] Akio Toyoda said at the reveal of the 2020 Supra, Toyota is committed to building exciting vehicles, including sports cars,” she explained. “The 86 has been in the Toyota family since 2013 and the plan is that it will continue to be a part of Toyota’s sports car line-up.”

It’s a very similar answer to what we’ve heard from Subaru — reassuring, without being terribly committal. But we’re inclined to believe both Toyobaru models will exist for at least another year.

Still, that doesn’t disprove the claim from Japanese Nostalgia Car, drawn from insider knowledge, that the February issue of Best Car will cite reliable sources who will ultimately verify the future cancellation of both sports cars.

There’s also growing speculation that the smaller engine offerings in the Japanese-spec Supra make the existence of the 86 problematic in Asia. Meanwhile, Automotive News reports that the older coupe had a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving into a second generation — despite claims that both automakers were working on developing a successor just last spring. Add in some confirmation from Toyota that it is considering bringing back the MR2, possibly as the 86’s replacement, and sketchy rumors that Subaru may have a mid-engined secret in the works, and you can see where all of this could be going.

Akio Toyoda has previously referred to the Supra, Celica, and MR2 as the “Three Brothers,” noting that he’d like to see them all return if a proper business case can be made. That’s a lot harder for Toyota to do with the 86 in its lineup. However, were the model to be replaced by something similarly lightweight and fun (cough, MR2), maybe Akio’s business acumen will be satisfied.

[Images: Toyota; Subaru]