Toyota and Subaru could be splitting up when it comes to small sports cars: A report from Japanese Nostalgic Car indicates that the successor to the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ has been canceled.

The twins, built in a Subaru factory in Japan since 2011, have been on sale for the better part of the decade, originally sold in the U.S. as the Subaru BRZ and the Scion FR-S. Toyota's version finally became the Toyota 86 here in the States as elsewhere in the world following Scion's closure, but this hasn't completely obscured the fact that both cars are getting long in the tooth. A short three years ago, Toyota was planning a successor to the 86, but with the debut of the Supra, the automaker's statements of intent about the replacement for the 86 have become a tad stale.

As the Supra launches worldwide, with Japan set to receive a four-cylinder version of the car, is there a need to create an all-new 86 even with Subaru's help?

It's worth noting that the 86 starts at just about half of the announced starting price of the stateside version of the Supra. However, given Toyota's desire to drastically cut the number of models it offers in the U.S., it would be an uphill battle to make a business case for a new 86. The rate of Toyota 86 sales has hovered at around 6,000 to 8,000 units per year for the past few years, but fell to 4,146 units in 2018, perhaps with a little help from a new Mazda Miata.

What about Subaru? The automaker confirmed a replacement for the BRZ some time ago, which means that a next-gen BRZ could very well go into production but Toyota would not be getting its own version of the car. Whatever plans Subaru has, a new model would have to debut relatively soon since the BRZ and its Toyota twin have been on sale in basically their current form since the 2012 model year. That's a long time for a relatively small-volume sports car, but we should also note that the BRZ is more important to Subaru than to Toyota at this point, given the number of models in both automakers' lineups and their annual sales. Subaru has a good case for a small sports car aimed at the Miata.

Japanese Nostalgic Car that the Feb. 26 issue of the Japanese automotive tabloid Best Car will shed some more light on both automakers' plans when it comes to the replacement for the 86 and the BRZ.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io