Toyota's New GR Celica Prototype Just Appeared Out Of Nowhere

Images emerged yesterday from a test in Portugal of Toyota's 2027 World Rally Championship (WRC) challenger, but instead of it being based on the roadgoing GR Yaris, it was an entirely new two-door coupe. Considering WRC requires racers to be built loosely on the foundation of a roadgoing model, this prototype means one of three things:

1. Toyota's wasted money on tooling for a new prototype body it will never use, or
2. This is our first look at a new Toyota sports coupe, likely the GR Celica
3. This is a prototype for a next-generation Toyota GR86, built without Subaru's assistance

The images (in embedded posts below) were quickly followed by video footage of the prototype haring around a dirt track, giving us a better look at the new coupe.

Why We Think It's The GR Celica

While the GR86 might make some sense, given it's the only coupe in Toyota's global lineup, the proportions here are all wrong. This looks shorter, or likely taller, with a high hood indicating an inline-four instead of a flat-four, and the short front end indicating a transverse-mounted engine instead of a longitudinal one. And then there are the general shapes, which look a heck of a lot like the Celica Toyota used to rally (main image, top). The roofline also remains relatively high over the rear of the cabin, unlike the low roof of the GR86.

Take away the beefy square flared arches (and the raised ride height to accommodate that crazy rally suspension), and you have a coupe with rounded features far more in keeping with the Celica lineage.

Why Show A Race Car Before The Road Car?
It's a valid question to ask, especially since WRC homologation requires a race car to be based on a road car, not the other way around. But this is Toyota we're talking about, and under the guidance of Akio Toyoda, its Gazoo Racing division has pledged to deliver drivers cars that are born from racing development. 

It's also not the first time we've seen this happen. In the last 20+ years, we've seen Toyota do this on a few occasions, most notably:

• The Lexus LFA was raced at the Nürburgring before it became a production model.
• The Toyota GR Supra (A90) was shown in racing form a year before the production sports car was unveiled.
• The new GR GT was shown as a racing concept and was then spotted testing as a racing prototype long before it was revealed. When it was revealed, it was alongside the GR GT3 race car.

Basically, Toyota's happy to do the groundwork developing a proper race car before toning it down into a road car, instead of trying to compensate for the mediocre engineering of a regular road car to turn it into a race car. It had to do that with the Yaris when it built the first Yaris-based WRC car that inspired the GR Yaris, and it doesn't want to do it alone.

What We Know So Far
Of course, details are limited, since even these images and videos didn't come from Toyota. But, we still know a little bit of what could come to pass in the GR Celica. For one, we know Toyota's been looking at bringing back the nameplate, along with a mid-engined MR2 and a next-gen GR86, although some rumors have suggested the MR2 and Celica projects could be combined. This prototype, however, definitely looks front-engined.

But what we're almost certain of is what's under the hood. Toyota's developing a new line of turbocharged inline-fours in 1.5- and 2.0-liter displacements, with potential hybrid assist. These are loosely derived from the existing G16E three-cylinders in the GR Yaris and GR Corolla, but with an extra cylinder. The G20E motor is expected to be used in a slew of high-performance GR applications, including the MR2, Celica, and the next-gen Supra, where it's said to be capable of anywhere between 400 and 600 horsepower.

Now that the first prototypes are out there, we expect Toyota to be a little more forthcoming with information. But don't expect a full dishing of the dirt anytime soon. The automaker has become a pro at playing the long tease, and we're only expecting a roadgoing version closer to 2028.