The pinnacle of Toyota’s rebirth,
though, comes in the form of
the new Supra – a car the Gazoo
Racing team has had a hand in.
Gazoo Racing may only be a
motorsport minnow, but it’s going
from strength to strength: 2018
began with a podium in the Dakar
rally, the Yaris has been competitive
in the World Rally Championship,
and Fernando Alonso will co-drive
a Toyota at Le Mans.
Much of Toyota’s previous
motorsport activity has occurred
in a vacuum, but now it’s clearly
joined up with the road-car range;
the Yaris GRMN wasn’t just a
quirky novelty. It’s understood
there will be two versions of the
Gazoo Racing performance car
models. Gazoo Racing Meisters
of the Nurburgring, or GRMN, are
hardcore performance models:
the Yaris has just had the
supercharged GRMN treatment.
models: think VW Golf R and GTI
respectively and you’re close.
This is all feeding into next
year’s Supra, co-developed with
the next BMW Z4 and to be built
alongside it by Magna Steyr in
Austria. The fifth-generation
Supra will deploy straight-six
turbocharged petrol power,
in a ballsy nod to the fondly
remembered A80 model. Toyota’s
European design boss Johan Van
Zyl even fist-pumped the air
when the wild-looking Supra GR
Racing concept took the stage at
the Geneva show. “This concept
is a clear signal of our intention
to bring back one of our most
legendary sports cars to the
market,” he said.
You can understand his
excitement – after much tedium,
Toyota is making its family cars
exciting, majoring on clever tech
and resurrecting an icon.
JAKE GROVESToyota’s fi ve-step pat
to an exciting future
MAKE MORE POWERFUL HYBRIDS
If you think Toyota has been going big on
hybrids, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Half its new
passenger car range has a hybrid powertrain
variant. The familiar 1.8 is being joined by a mor
powerful 2.0-litre option in the new Corolla.
SHUN DIESEL
Toyota’s investment in hybrids looks spookily
prescient. It currently does not offer any oil-burning
passenger cars in Australia, limiting diesel engines to its
SUV/4WD line up, and its big-selling Hilux range.
GO WILD WITH THE STYLE
The next Corolla and RAV4, like the C-HR, may not be to
everyone’s taste, but Toyota’s designers are turning heads not
just with marginal models but with the big-sellers.
BREATHE NEW LIFE INTO THE LEGEND
We’re expecting a Supra with substance. Developed with
BMW, the rear-wheel-drive coupe will be offered with four-pot
and straight-six engines. It’s a co-development like the 86 and
Subaru BRZ, but expect greater differentiation with the Supra;
Z4 is a roadster, Supra is coupe-only and more hardcore.
GO RACING
The motorsport team has been taking on the Dakar, the World
Rally Championship and the World Endurance Championship,
with Fernando Alonso among the driver line-up at Le Mans.
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LOOK BEYOND THE MOTORSPORT BODYKIT- THE SUPRA GAZOO RACING CONCEPT
PREVIEWS THE 2019 PRODUCTION CAR.
INSIDERS VOW IT’S FAR MORE HARDCORE
THAN ITS BMW Z4 SIBLING.
More accessible will be the GR
RAV4 GOES
THERE’S NO DIESEL
NEXT RAV4, WHICH REA
NEXT YEAR – CHOO
2.5-LITRE PETROL OR
MODULAR TNGAPorsche has unveiled its 911 GT3 R customer
race car for 2019, which wraps carbonfibre
exterior panels around a trademark rear-
engined aluminium-steel composite monocoque
featuring a 4.0 flat six fundamentally shared
with the roadgoing GT3 RS, from which the R
is developed. Key upgrades over the road car
include the six-speed sequential paddle-shift
gearbox, upgraded aero package and a welded-
in FIA roll cage. And in a first for the R, there’s
air-conditioning, which connects directly to the
seat and the driver’s helmet. Cool.Air to the throne