Toyota quashes dreams of new Celica and MR2 - confirms no more GR model, GR86 is last

Toyota President Akio Toyoda’s promise of bidding goodbye to the end of analogue cars era by gifting enthusiasts three GR sports cars is now complete, and there won’t be any more GR models to follow, confirms Toyota GR86’s chief engineer Yasunori Suezawa.

When asked by Australian publication Drive if there are other GR models to follow, Suezawa said “There is none left actually, so this [the GR86] is the last.”

The GR models here refer to the company's 4 core GR models - 3 GR sports cars GR Yaris, GR86, GR Supra and 1 family mega-hatch GR Corolla. The line-up of lower range, accessorised GR Sports models like the Hilux GR Sports or Vios GR Sport will continue to grow depending on local market demand.

“For the GR [performance brand], basically this [the GR86] is the last. But we have a GR Sport [brand] that we will be [widening] with models like the Corolla, Yaris Cross and C-HR,” Suezawa-san said.

At the launch of the GR Supra in 2018, there were strong market chatter of Toyota reviving the 3 brothers of Toyota sports cars – Celica, MR2, and Supra. Of the trio, only the Supra made it through, and even that was only possible with BMW footing half the development cost.

Suezawa’s comments also nailed the coffin on hopes for any revival of other legendary Toyota sports cars nameplates like the World Rally Championship-winning Celica and the mid-engine MR2.

Instead, the spirit of Carlos Sainz’s turbocharged 4WD Celica lives on in the GR Yaris, which as a hatchback, is not quite a sports car but Toyota describes it as one anyway, thus completing the GR sports cars trio.

Still, we applaud Toyota nonetheless, because nobody else has pockets deep enough to build a homologation special road-going WRC car anymore, not even Subaru.

Everyone loves sports cars and have very vocal opinions on Facebook of how a Toyota sports car should be, but the reality is that most of it is just empty talk. When it comes to putting money down on one, few will take the plunge, most preferring to wait for cheaper used ones, or in the case of us in this part of the world, parallel imported recond units.

Also, a successor to the GR86 was also only possible because Subaru agreed to continue footing half of the development cost, providing the engine.

Beyond Toyota, Mazda (also a good friend of Toyota) remains the only other company to make (relatively) affordable sports cars, and it’s doubtful if they made any decent money on each unit sold.

Also read: Bromance between Presidents of Toyota and Mazda runs deep, exchange letters revealed

So it’s understandable that Toyota chose a wider market potential hatchback bodystyle GR Corolla and GR Yaris to complement the GR86 and GR Supra, rather than offering more of the same 2-door sports cars. Having 4 models – 3 two-door sports cars and 1 family-friendly four-door hatchback - is a good enough mix.