Is Toyota planning a new hybrid sports car? According to the man in charge of the automaker’s hybrid racing plans, it would seem so.

“My ultimate goal for the near future is to develop a hybrid sports car using technology accumulated through this project,” said Hisitake Murata, speaking in a video interview posted on the Toyota UK blog. Murata is the General Manager of the Racing Hybrid Project and the man responsible for the Toyota’s Le Mans prototype race cars.

“Our technologies are shared with the whole of Toyota Motor Company,” he continues, before envisioning a future Toyota sports car. “If we made a conventional sports car we could apply a super capacitor system or combine a super capacitor system and hybrid battery to achieve a similar braking performance,” he says.

Is this what is to live under the hood of the FT-1 production vehicle? That seems unlikely as previous reports stated that the Supra successor would be gas-powered.

While powertrain details provided on the FT-1 concept were slim, Toyota did go out of its way to comment that it envisions the mysterious powerplant to be a high-tech internal-combustion engine.

But trying to keep Toyota away from hybrid technology seems to be as hard as fighting gravity. The Japanese automaker has previously shown a high-powered hybrid drivetrain in the heart of the tiny Yaris, while a collaboration with BMW promises that a hybrid-powered sports car is on the way.

There’s the possibility that the folks behind the GT86 (also known as the Scion FR-S) are toying with the idea of a KERS style mild-hybrid with regenerative brakes to provide an extra boost of power.

The reports are all over the map, but one thing is for sure – a hybrid powered sports car from Toyota is on the minds of many at the company. And with hybrid powered competitors like the Acura NSX and the likely gas-electric Nissan GT-R on the horizon, can a hybrid super sports car from Toyota be far off?

Radical coupe concept to morph into a born-again Supra; Toyota also developing sub-86 hybrid sports car

One of the hottest concepts unveiled at last month’s Detroit motor show was Toyota’s FT-1. No one will argue that point. What is controversial is how much meaning this radically styled coupe has in the real world.

While Toyota heads were saying the car was merely a concept conceived to celebrate the Calty design studio’s 40th anniversary as well as pay tribute to Polyphony Digital’s ‘Vision Gran Turismo’ project, major publications were purporting the FT-1 to be the next-generation Supra.

Now we have the definitive verdict: It is. But there is another sports car in the mix as well. After a mandate from Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda calling for “cars that touch the heart”, a source close to Toyota has confirmed the company is busy developing not only the FT-1 as the next Supra, but a smaller sports car too.

“Priced at around $16,000 (in the US), this entry-level sports coupe will slot into the line-up under the successful 86,” says our insider.

Developed within a new sports car division headed up by none other than 86 chief engineer Tetsuya Tada, our source says these two next-generation coupes will form the base for a whole range of sports cars set to start joining the line-up from 2016.

Word from Toyoda went something like this. “If the FT-1 makes a good strong impression on the market, then we will add it to the line-up.”

We think Toyota knew this car was going to be a smash hit, because from what we are hearing it’s already well into the development phase. But don’t expect the finished product to land in showrooms looking like this. Our source says those sharp lines, scoops and edges will definitely be “softened” for the market.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen an aggressively styled coupe boasting some of Toyota’s best hybrid hardware. The FT-HS concept coupe received rave reviews when it was unveiled in Detroit in 2007.

But the global financial crisis soon put this project on the back-burner, as car-makers were forced to tighten their belts. Now in 2014, Toyota is back with even raunchier styling and two powertrains.

The entry-level variant is expected to incorporate a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol-four from the upcoming Lexus NX, while the flagship will employ a 2.5-litre turbo V6 hybrid powertrain generating more than 300kW.

Obviously the new Supra will be rear-wheel drive but it is also strongly rumoured to employ an LFA-style rear transaxle, meaning the new Supra could sell for less than $100,000 when it appears in showrooms as early as 2016.

Meanwhile, the smaller sports coupe said to slot in under the 86 should be powered by a 1.5-litre hybrid set-up and is set for a 2017 debut.