The end of sports cars in Europe is closed

No more sports competition: Toyota and Subaru will soon no longer offer the PS GR86 and BRZ twins in Europe. What is behind the decision.

The Toyota GR86 and its almost identical sister model Subaru BRZ are certainly not among the most popular sports cars – but they are popular with their fans. Also because, with prices starting from 36,000 euros, it is among the cheapest offers. But the rear-wheel drive and the classic shape also make fans’ hearts beat faster.

But the sporty twins won’t be around as new cars for much longer: According to “Auto Motor und Sport”, the manufacturers confirmed that both models will be phased out in Europe this year. Subaru only sells stock models, and there is a “stop order” talk on Toyota’s home page.

However, the farewell is not entirely surprising: the GR86 came to Germany in the summer of 2022, the BRZ at the beginning of 2023 – with the announcement that both will be available for only two years. Behind this are the EU’s stricter safety regulations: from the summer onwards, the second of four increasingly strict standards will apply. The main goal here is to improve pedestrian protection. To do this, engineers will have to change the design and install more support systems, which, among other things, require camera systems. To accommodate these, part of the roof would have to be replaced, writes the trade magazine. Under the current conditions, sports cars are no longer safe for the EU.

In addition, there are stricter emissions regulations, cyber security requirements and new interfaces required, for example for alcohol measuring devices. This leads to additional costs – and judging by the homeopathic sales figures, it is no longer worth it for car manufacturers to replace classic cars such as the GR86 and BRZ for the European market for a lot of money.

It is possible, it is said, that a successor to the GR86 could come to the market in a few years that also meets European requirements.