Toyota has officially announced plans to introduce their latest Gazoo Racing (GR) sports car on March 31st at 9:30 EDT.
While the automaker is playing coy on specifics, there’s little doubt the model is the highly anticipated GR Corolla.
As expected, it’s been given an aggressive makeover as the hatchback features sporty front fenders with gloss black vents as well as GR badging. They’re joined by lightweight wheels that are backed up by a high-performance braking system with red calipers featuring GR logos. Last but not least, we can see aerodynamic side skirts with “GR-FOUR” lettering.
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The latter is a reference to Toyota’s permanent, electronically controlled all-wheel drive system. In the GR Yaris, it offers three different modes known as Normal, Sport, and Track. Normal mode has a 60:40 split, while Sport mode sends 70% of the power rearward to “prioritize rear-wheel drive characteristics.” Track mode, on the other hand, splits things 50:50 and is billed as “suitable for fast driving in any road conditions.”
The all-wheel drive system isn’t the only thing that will likely carryover from the GR Yaris as the two models are also expected to share a turbocharged 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine. It produces 257 hp (192 kW / 261 PS) and 265 lb-ft (360 Nm) of torque, which enables the hatch to accelerate from 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 5.5 seconds and hit an electronically limited top speed of 143 mph (230 km/h).
However, Toyota has already shown the engine is capable of producing more power as the limited edition GRMN Yaris cranked out 268 hp (200 kW / 272 PS) and 287 lb-ft (390 Nm) of torque. Regardless of what the GR Corolla is rated at, it should be significantly more powerful than the standard model which has a 2.0-liter four-cylinder developing 168 hp (125 kW / 170 PS) and 151 lb-ft (205 Nm) of torque.
