The Toyota Corolla Could Get a Gazoo Racing Version, Too

A year ago, Toyota said it would eventually build performance versions of every car it makes. Two weeks ago, it trademarked three names in Australia: Corolla GR, C-HR GR-Sport and C-HR GR-S. We’re hoping this is the start of a full, sporty GR line, and we’re hoping they come stateside.

Our first introduction to GR (Gazoo Racing) was with the Toyota Supra. Since then we’ve seen the Japan-only Yaris GR, which is different then our Yaris here, with a 1.6-liter turbocharged I3 making a healthy 268 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque, sent to all four wheels via a manual transmission. That particular car won’t come here, but Toyota Motor North America executive vice president Bob Carter did say that there will be a U.S. equivalent.

Which brings us to the Corolla GR and C-HR trademarks discovered by the GT86 Forum. The Corolla GR would probably be a Honda Civic Si competitor if it was a sedan and VW GTI competitor if it was a hatchback—and with the company’s latest sporty turn, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be good. We drove the Camry and Avalon TRDs last year and found them to be by far the most entertaining of their respective lines.

The best option would be bringing that 1.6-liter turbo-three here and putting it in every small car the company makes. The current top Corollas deliver just 169 hp and 151 lb-ft, so that would be a huge jump. The engine from the Camry would probably make more sense, though, bringing 203 hp and 184 lb-ft from a 2.5-liter I4. But we can hope.

As for the C-HR compact crossover, we’re guessing GR-Sport and/or GR-S would be midrange sporty models with handling and visual upgrades but not a more powerful engine. We wouldn’t complain about that either.

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