While he may not technically be at the helm of the company which bears his namesake, master driver and huge gearhead Akio Toyoda is still very much pushing Toyota down sporty paths.
As part of its presence at this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyota Gazoo Racing is pushing a main theme of Car-Making at Nürburgring, showing up with a number of exhibits to boost excitement and give those of us who enjoy interesting cars something to talk about.
Putting an emphasis on driving dynamics, which is no small feat in an age when clueless investor-types clamour for electric cars and their imagined profits, are concepts like the GR Yaris M. This is a machine which plunks a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine amidships, totally changing the car’s handling characteristics and making us pine for the AW11 MR2. This concept is intended to eventually compete in the Super Taikyu Series as part of a so-called ‘driver-first’ approach to development in which cars are “repeatedly driven to failure and then repaired in the extreme conditions of racing”. Sounds good to us.
Also, Toyota will return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race with what’s being described as an evolved variant of the GR Yaris. This follows a six-year hiatus in which the brand did not compete at the Green Hell in this capacity. Other track focused endeavors include the release of new available software for the GR86 coupe, upgrades meant to tweak throttle mapping and the like for both manual- and automatic-equipped cars.
The brand hasn’t left its past out in the cold, either. An effort called GR Heritage Parts seeks to reproduce and sell spare parts that have been discontinued. The outfit will gradually make reproduced parts available for purchase at Toyota dealers. Want something that’s difficult to find as a NOS part such as a rear defogger switch for an A70 Supra? They may have it for you.
In fact, there is an entire request form in which shoppers can plunk in vehicle details and part number for the OE item they seek along with a description of current operational issues on the car. Regions listed in a drop-down menu as being available for this service does include North America, which is good news. There is a good list of models with which GR Heritage Parts is currently working.
[Images: Toyota]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.