New Toyota Celica to use Corolla hybrid underpinnings
The return of the Toyota Celica will come thanks to the architecture of the Corolla, mirroring the Honda Prelude’s relationship with the Civic.
Toyota is gearing up to launch a new Celica, just don’t expect it to be built on a mega-money, bespoke platform.
As reported by Autocar, the reborn Toyota Celica is understood to utilise the underpinnings of the Corolla hybrid, a measure which will keep costs in check, and link the incoming sports coupe to its previous generations.
Past versions of the Celica often shared their chassis or key components with the Toyota Carina or Corolla, at least in more widely available grades outside of the flagship, rally homologation-bred GT-Four.
It’s a familiar play in the entry-level sports car scene too. Recently, Honda relaunched the Prelude nameplate, basing its two-door coupe on the Civic, with the pair sharing hybrid engines, though the former gets some trick parts from the performance Civic Type R.
Autocar has previously reported the Celica will come back as the Celica Sport, and – like the Corolla – be offered with hybrid power, mated with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, currently under development as the replacement for the 1.6-litre three-cylinder in the GR Corolla and GR Yaris.
Speaking to the publication in March, GR marketing manager Mikio Hayashi said the brand’s future sports car (expected to be the Celica) is likely to be powered by Toyota’s new turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine.
“The displacement size of 1.6 litres [used in the GR Yaris], for example, cannot meet emission regulations. So we have to consider the possibility of a 2.0-litre,” Hayashi said.
“We are thinking about various sizes, but we are not at a stage where we can tell you exactly what size it is. Nothing has been decided yet about whether it will be a standard hybrid or plug-in hybrid.
“We are continuing to develop that [2.0-litre engine]. We have high expectations. We cannot point to a timeline but can say we are making steady progress.”
The new ‘G20E’ turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine is expected to succeed the 1.6-litre three-cylinder which powers the GR Yaris and GR Corolla for Toyota’s entry-level, all-wheel drive performance products.
While the final generation of Celica was front-wheel drive only, it’s expected the GR-fettled Celica will be an all-wheel drive, turbocharged flagship, calling back to the days of the GT-Four, which won four WRC driver’s titles, and two manufacturer’s championships in the 1990s.
