“We’re making the Celica!”, Toyota Motor Corporation’s Executive Vice President for Product, Yuki Nakajima, confirmed on stage at the recent Rally Japan event on its home turf, according to Japanese automotive outlet, BestCar. Nakajima officially announced its revival at the annual rally race that takes place at one of the event’s tour stops at the Toyota Stadium in the Aichi Prefecture.
Rally Japan is one of the many major FIA World Rally Championship spectacles and global tour stops, which recently concluded its ninth run this past weekend. When Toyota executives sat down on the event’s main stage to have a round table-like discussion, they all engaged in a Q&A session with the crowd, in which a journalist from BestCar asked the magic question, and they answered with a resounding yes.
Development For The New Celica Is Currently In Progress
*Rendering by @Theottle
Although Toyota President Nakajima confirmed the Celica’s current status as under development, he didn’t go into much further detail. The announcement occurred during a staged interaction with Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman, Akio Toyoda, at the Rally Japan event, where the two acted out some conversation and dialogue.
When both Toyoda and Nakajima took the event’s stage to share some words, BestCar’s attending journalist asked the magic question.
“I can’t answer that, but there’s an executive there, so I’ll ask him,” Akio Toyoda replied, “there are executives here today, so let’s ask them,” pointing to Yuki Nakajima, who then enthusiastically responded: “We’re making the Celica.”
“To be honest, there is no sign of it right now. However, there are many people within the company who are eagerly awaiting the Celica,” Nakajima continued, “So…I wonder if it’s okay to say this in a public forum, but we’re doing the Celica!”
Rumors of the Toyota Celica’s revival have been circulating for some time over the past several years, but none of them actually came to fruition with any confirmation. As of late, however, Toyota’s been reportedly ramping up its efforts to revive some of its iconic nameplates and sports cars, such as the Celica and even the MR2, following the rebirth of the Supra from 2019.
For years, many thought and referred to Toyota as “the most boring carmaker” because it discontinued many of its iconic affordable sports cars by the late 2000s amid dwindling demand and a global economic recession. But ever since Toyota introduced the GT86/Scion FR-S/BR-Z in partnership with Subaru, Toyota realized that demand and passion for its sports car still remained.
Earlier this year, Toyota announced its new comprehensive range of gasoline four-cylinder engines, which will power numerous models in the near future and will be available in a wide variety of displacements and power outputs. The announcement came during a technical conference where the company also announced its partnership with Mazda and Subaru to cooperatively develop both internal combustion engines and electric powertrains for all the companies’ next-generation models.
Additionally, Chairman Akio Toyoda repeatedly professed his love of speed and performance, as well as his desires and dreams to once again revive some of Toyota’s sports cars in numerous interviews over the years. With cars like the GR Corolla reaching production for global markets and other performance-inspired models in the works, it finally now looks like Toyota will once again be a producer of affordable Japanese sports cars.
Source: BestCar.jp
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