Photo: Toyota Motor Corporation
The Japanese automaker is certainly pulling all the strings when exhibiting at the 2023 editions of Tokyo Auto Salon and the Tokyo Outdoor Show - including the WRC-dedicated ones.
After a rather dismal start of the automotive year – we lost the man, the legend, the star (Ken Block) and I am more than less impressed by the carmaker presence at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada, things are showing big signs of improvement, halfway around the world. So, let us travel to Japan for the 2023 editions of Tokyo Auto Salon and the Tokyo Outdoor Show.
Toyota was certainly not going to let the cool occasion slip and came prepared with a massive roster of introductions. And they had all hands on deck, from a bundle of adventurous concepts (RX Outdoor, ROV Concept 2, GX Outdoor, and Crown Outdoor) to GR parts and accessories, and from AE86 sports cars living the H2 or BEV sustainable lifestyle to declaring their undying love for the WRC in general and rally motorsport in particular.
The latter was achieved through no less than five different versions of the GR Yaris supermini hot hatchback. Those would be the GR Yaris GR4 Rally with gravel specifications, the GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid, the GR Yaris Rally2 Concept, as well as the GR Yaris RZ ‘High-performance Sébastien Ogier Edition Concept,’ and GR Yaris RZ ‘High-performance Kalle Rovanperä Edition Concept.’
While some folks might deem the Rally2 prototype as the most interesting of the bunch, at least from the visual standpoint due to its all-black appearance with white-and-crimson details, let us also focus a bit on the other two potential WRC stars that will be exhibited from January 13 to 15 at the Toyota Gazoo Racing booth at the Tokyo Auto Salon. This year’s Toyota tagline for the event is “leaving no car lovers behind,” and as far as WRC-focused ones are concerned, that is twice valid with these special models.
They also live under their punchline, “making ever-better motorsports-bred cars,” so the world premieres are basically “expressions of TGR’s gratitude to all those who have supported the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team and of TGR’s desire to bring even more excitement to the WRC.” By the way, last year Rally Japan was revived for the first time in the last 12 years, and given the big home-turf interest, Sébastien Ogier plus Kalle Rovanperä were given the privilege to supervise the development of the special models.
The 2021 and 2022 driver’s title holders each directed the prototypes according to their specific personal input and the best news is that both concepts will morph into production models, though further details along with the commercial market release date are coming at a later date. For now, we do know some of the specifications of the concepts, though.
They include a couple of exclusive exterior colors, bespoke wheel decorations and WRC champion decals, a large rear stabilizer (Ogier Edition) or a rear wing plus performance aerodynamic parts (Kalle Rovanperä), a bigger setting for the engine torque (390 Nm/288 lb-ft), as well as exclusive, different controls for the 4WD mode select switch.
By the way, “TGR is considering offering customers who purchase either of these models posted proof on WRC competition vehicles that they are our partners in competing in the WRC, as well as an opportunity to meet with Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä.” Cool, right?
Toyota was certainly not going to let the cool occasion slip and came prepared with a massive roster of introductions. And they had all hands on deck, from a bundle of adventurous concepts (RX Outdoor, ROV Concept 2, GX Outdoor, and Crown Outdoor) to GR parts and accessories, and from AE86 sports cars living the H2 or BEV sustainable lifestyle to declaring their undying love for the WRC in general and rally motorsport in particular.
The latter was achieved through no less than five different versions of the GR Yaris supermini hot hatchback. Those would be the GR Yaris GR4 Rally with gravel specifications, the GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid, the GR Yaris Rally2 Concept, as well as the GR Yaris RZ ‘High-performance Sébastien Ogier Edition Concept,’ and GR Yaris RZ ‘High-performance Kalle Rovanperä Edition Concept.’
While some folks might deem the Rally2 prototype as the most interesting of the bunch, at least from the visual standpoint due to its all-black appearance with white-and-crimson details, let us also focus a bit on the other two potential WRC stars that will be exhibited from January 13 to 15 at the Toyota Gazoo Racing booth at the Tokyo Auto Salon. This year’s Toyota tagline for the event is “leaving no car lovers behind,” and as far as WRC-focused ones are concerned, that is twice valid with these special models.
They also live under their punchline, “making ever-better motorsports-bred cars,” so the world premieres are basically “expressions of TGR’s gratitude to all those who have supported the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team and of TGR’s desire to bring even more excitement to the WRC.” By the way, last year Rally Japan was revived for the first time in the last 12 years, and given the big home-turf interest, Sébastien Ogier plus Kalle Rovanperä were given the privilege to supervise the development of the special models.
The 2021 and 2022 driver’s title holders each directed the prototypes according to their specific personal input and the best news is that both concepts will morph into production models, though further details along with the commercial market release date are coming at a later date. For now, we do know some of the specifications of the concepts, though.
They include a couple of exclusive exterior colors, bespoke wheel decorations and WRC champion decals, a large rear stabilizer (Ogier Edition) or a rear wing plus performance aerodynamic parts (Kalle Rovanperä), a bigger setting for the engine torque (390 Nm/288 lb-ft), as well as exclusive, different controls for the 4WD mode select switch.
By the way, “TGR is considering offering customers who purchase either of these models posted proof on WRC competition vehicles that they are our partners in competing in the WRC, as well as an opportunity to meet with Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä.” Cool, right?
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