Celica & MR2 Revival : When Toyota introduced a brand-new four-cylinder turbocharged engine earlier this year at the Tokyo Auto Salon, it turned more than a few heads. In an age of electric everything and crossover mania on the sales charts, stuffing a subcompact Yaris with a turbo four with as much as 400 hp has a suspicious whiff of enthusiasm for a company as serious-minded as Toyota. And they put it in the middle? What exactly are those ‘Yota engineers working on?
It feels like someone at Toyota HQ had a time machine because the company is getting ready to rewind the clock back to the 1990s and deliver two of its all-time heavy hitters. Last November, in the first episode of a Toyota-produced anime series named Grip, the return of the Celica and MR2 nameplates was teased. A couple months after that debut, Toyota’s executive vice
president Yuki Nakajima told employees in Japan the Celica is part of Toyota’s future, according to Japanese magazine Best Car. Also on the radar (below) is a mid-engined GR Yaris M concept, which could also herald the return of a revived MR2. With the Supra on its way out the door, and a new one not expected until later in the decade, a return of a high-performance two-seater
could fit right in Toyota’s lineup and serve as a halo car. The powertrain details remain murky because the car hasn’t been officially confirmed as joining the Celica, but comments made to AutoExpress from Naohiko Saito, Gazoo Racing’s lead engineer, appear to suggest that all-wheel drive would have been a part of the setup. What if you were to take the GR Corolla and cut it
down and make it a mid-engined two-seater? And it would likely look great as well. The FT-Se concept was another look at a possible Toyota EV platform when it debuted at the 2023 Tokyo auto show, though its packaging would be perfect for a midship configuration.
The Celica, for its part, could easily end up as a reboot of the 1990s All-Trac and its turbocharged power and all-wheel-drive grip. If the Sega Rally theme tune just started playing in your brain, then yes, it’s entirely possible Toyota could field a motorsport version of this car in rallying, as the new WRC regs have relaxed a touch