Toyota GR Corolla is go: Here's everything we know and expect

UPDATE, April 1, 2022: The 2023 Toyota GR Corolla has now been officially revealed, and confirmed for Australia. Get the full story at the link below.

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If you like performance cars, Toyota has long been the world’s most frustrating carmaker. From the twin-cam, six-cylinder 2000GT launched in 1965, this is the company that over the years has produced gems like the mid-engine MR2s, sundry super-quick Celicas, brawny, barrel-chested Supras, and the Lexus LFA, whose screaming 412kW naturally aspirated 4.8-litre V10 remains one of the greatest engines ever put in a road car.

Yes, Toyota can build – has built – some impressive driver’s cars, but it’s just never seemed all that committed to the idea. It launches them, then invariably leaves them to die of neglect while it gets on with building more Priuses.

Akio Toyoda wants to change all that.

The scion of Toyota’s founding family is a bone fide performance-car enthusiast. He’s raced in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring several times, and is one of the founders of Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s global motorsport brand. On becoming president of Toyota in June 2009, he declared he wanted the company to stop building boring cars.

He’s reiterated that desire several times since – Toyota’s formidable bureaucracy is a challenge even for a man who’s had a version of his family name on more than 195 million vehicles built since 1935. But the launches of cars like the 86 and Supra coupes, and the edgy GR Yaris – a near hand-built World Rally Championship homologation special – have suggested Akio’s might be finally getting what he wants.

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The GR Corolla proves he’s finally getting what he wants.

Toyota sources have confirmed exclusively to Wheels that the long-rumoured GR Corolla is 100 percent go for launch in late 2022 or early 2023. What’s more, the car will be powered by the quirky turbocharged 1.6-litre three-cylinder engine from the GR Yaris, driving all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.

But that’s not all. While some have suggested that if the GR Corolla were to get the GR Yaris powerplant it would be slightly detuned, our sources insist the 200kW, 370Nm three-pot will be tweaked to deliver even more power and more torque for the bigger car.

With that punchy rally-bred turbo three-pot under the bonnet and all-wheel-drive traction, GR Corolla will be the hottest Corolla since… well… ever.

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The GR Yaris, designed and engineered specifically to get FIA homologation as the base car for Toyota’s WRC contender, shares almost nothing with the XP210 Yaris launched in Australia in 2020.

What’s clever about the GR Corolla is that Toyota doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel to create the car. The GR Yaris, designed and engineered specifically to get FIA homologation as the base car for Toyota’s WRC contender, shares almost nothing with the XP210 Yaris launched in Australia in 2020. Other than the front and rear lights, exterior rearview mirrors, and the roof aerial, every exterior panel and component is unique to the GR.

Underneath is a unique platform that combines a chunk of the TNGA-B platform from the XP210, with a rear section adapted from the TNGA-C platform that underpins the Corolla and C-HR crossover.

The GR Corolla, by contrast, will likely retain much of the basic body hardware of the current E210 Corolla five-door hatch.

Unlike the GR Yaris, which is 56mm longer and 61mm wider than the standard car, and has three doors instead of five, with new A-pillars, new bodyside stampings and a new roof that is 46mm lower at the front of the car and 94mm lower at its rearmost point, the GR Corolla will share the standard car’s roof, bodyside, doors, hatch and bonnet.

It will, however, get similarly aggressive front and rear fascias, with a deeper spoiler and splitter up front and GR badging on the grille, and the currently fashionable faux diffuser at the rear with a single big-bore exhaust outlet on either side. Visually, think Golf GTI versus standard Golf, or Hyundai i30N versus a regular i30.

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The GR Corolla will retain the standard car’s MacPherson strut front suspension, albeit with strengthened components and different geometry, and will likely use a version of the bespoke multi-link setup from the GR Yaris at the rear as the back halves of both cars’ platforms are identical.

Expect big disc brakes at each corner – the 356mm front rotors available up front on the GR Yaris are larger than those on the GR Supra, while the rear rotors are 297mm items. The GR Yaris rolls on 18-inch alloy wheels, but as the top-spec Corolla ZR and ZR Hybrid are both fitted with 18s, it’s logical to assume the GR Corolla may get 19in wheels, or even 20s, if only to ensure visual differentiation.

As Toyota has confirmed the GR Corolla will be all-wheel drive, that means it will use the simple and light performance-oriented AWD hardware from the GR Yaris.

The first new AWD system developed by Toyota in more than 20 years, it has a fast-response centre coupling that can be set in three modes – Normal, which sends 60 percent of the torque to the front wheels; Sport, which sends 70 percent to the rear wheels; and Track, which splits the torque 50:50. A hypoid gear transfer case links it all to a conventional six-speed manual transmission.

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Toyota, which lobbied the FIA to allow a three-cylinder engine in the World Rally Championship, says the G16E-GTS engine in the GR Yaris is the smallest and lightest 1.6-liter turbo motor in the world, and the world’s most powerful three-cylinder production engine.

Why three-cylinders? “We preferred this engine due to its light weight and compact size,” says development project leader Atsunori Kumagaya. “It’s simple to install and the lack of exhaust gas interference made it easier to obtain power.”

In the GR Yaris the G16E-GTS makes its 200kW at 6500rpm, and the 370Nm of torque is available from 3000rpm to 4600rpm.

With features such as oil jets to cool the pistons, large exhaust valves and a single-scroll turbocharger integrated into the exhaust manifold whose turbine spins on ball-bearings to reduce lag – and given that for the 2021 WRC car the engine would have comfortably pumped out 280kW and 450Nm with the mandatory 36mm airflow restrictor in place – it’s clear it has a lot of headroom for power and torque boosts, even in road-legal tune.

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Depending on spec, the GR Yaris weighs between 1280kg and 1310kg, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of about 154kW per tonne, enough to scoot the little Toyota to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds and to an electronically limited top speed of 230km/h, according to the factory.

Toyota has a couple different ways it can go with the GR Corolla but given Toyota sources have confirmed the G16E-GTS will be tweaked to deliver more power and torque, and that the car will be all-wheel drive, the Volkswagen’s 234kW, all-wheel-drive Golf R, which has a similar power-to-weight ratio to that of the GR Yaris, is an obvious target.

For cost reasons the GR Corolla is unlikely to be subjected to the same degree of expensive light-weighting as the GR Yaris, which has an aluminium bonnet, tailgate and doors, and a forged carbon-fibre roof to lower its centre of gravity.

The regular Corolla hatch weighs between 1400kg and 1420kg. Assuming a 150kg bump due to the GR Corolla’s bigger brakes, heavy duty suspension components and the all-wheel drive system (for reference, the 1551kg Mark 8 Golf R weighs about 120kg more than the front-drive Golf GTI) that suggests an output of about 230kW and more than 400Nm of torque.

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Above: Toyota's current ZR model

That would be grunt enough to get the GR Corolla to 100km/h in around 5.0 seconds, and to a top speed of 250km/h. That’s right in Golf R territory.

Likely price? That’s a tricky one. You’ll spend between $48,500 and $57,000, depending on spec, for a Hyundai i30 N. A Golf GTI costs around $58,500. The GR Corolla would easily be quicker than both, with the benefit of all-wheel-drive handling and traction.

The Golf R isn’t currently available in Australia, but in the UK the car commands a 17 percent price premium over the GTI, so call it at least $68,500.

Therefore, the opportunity for the GR Corolla is that for under $70,000 – significantly less money than a Supra – it could deliver class-leading levels of performance in a car that has much more room and offers more creature comforts than the little GR Yaris.

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Above: the current Corolla flagship, the economy-focussed ZR hybrid

And for those who want even more performance and precision, Toyota could offer a version of the GR Corolla that, like the GR Yaris Rallye, comes with stiffer suspension, lighter forged alloy wheels, and Torsen diffs front and rear.

Volkswagen sells a lot of Golf Rs, while the growing swarm of Hyundai N cars – i30 N, i20 N and Kona N – represents a clear threat to Toyota in terms attracting young enthusiast drivers to the Korean brand.

The GR Corolla is a no-brainer for Akio Toyoda’s Toyota.

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Above: the Corolla ZR Hybrid

GR’s position of power: Toyota’s hi-po division carries real clout within the company

GR is now a fully fledged division of Toyota, reporting to Shigeki Tomoyama (pictured), an engineer who has run Toyota’s e-commerce, IT and information systems groups and has overseen various parts of the Gazoo Racing operation since 2016. In 2020 Tomoyama was made responsible for GR product planning; he’s now one of six executive vice-presidents at Toyota who report directly to Akio Toyoda.

As one source put it, Tomoyama’s position – and his relationship with Akio Toyoda – means GR now no longer specifically needs buy-in from one of Toyota’s powerful chief engineers (the men responsible for entire model lines such as Corolla or Prius or LandCruiser) to get a GR model into production. Performance now has a strategic voice at the top table in Nagoya; the launch-and-forget years are over.

And, as another insider pointed out, Toyota’s huge global sales of low-emissions hybrids gives the company room to offer relatively low-volume performance vehicles with internal combustion engines even as other manufacturers are being forced to scale back their performance vehicle plans to meet fleet carbon emissions targets.

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Design details

Body panels

Seems unlikely GR Corolla will be treated to the bespoke body panels as per GR Yaris, but expect weight savings to be made to offset the AWD system

Wheels & tyres

Wheels will be at least 19s, possibly 20s, running performance rubber; likely Michelin Pilot Sport 4s. Forged wheels reserved for GR Corolla Rallye

Torque split

Like GR Yaris, Corolla’s AWD system will offer three modes – Normal (60% torque split to the front); Sport (70% rear) and Track (50:50 torque split)

Rear suspension

Rear suspension for GR Yaris was lifted from Corolla, so this bit’s easy: uprated hardware, stiffer bushes, revised geometry and mountings

Interior upgrades

GR Corolla will upgrade the key driver touch points: more supportive seats, more sporting wheel, and specific controls for torque split and launch control

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