Toyota unveils two-seat GR Corolla Morizo Edition

Still gutted about no GR Corolla for the UK? Best look away now…

By Matt Bird / Wednesday, 1 June 2022 / Loading comments

Two-seat hot hatches bring out the worst in PH, the comments usually suggesting a dereliction of duty almost – as if a hot hotch couldn’t call itself so without five doors, four seats and some good stowage solutions. Maybe they have a point: hot hatches are meant to be practical performance cars. But it also ignores the fact that the some of those two-seaters – the Golf Clubsport S, Megane Trophy R, first two Mini GPs and so on – have been superb driver’s cars, regardless of shape or original remit. Now Toyota, seemingly intent on becoming everyone’s favourite carmaker, is doubling up on its two-seat hot hatches with this, the GR Corolla Morizo Edition.  

Following last year’s Yaris GRMN, the Morizo – Toyota president Akio Toyoda’s development driver alter ego – promises to bring “an untamed energy that captivates customers” as well as “a driving taste that excites and that powers the urge to keep on driving.” Which sound like very laudable aims for a stripped-out hot hatch. It’s more than just the 30kg saved from ditching the rear bench, too, taking kerbweight to 1,440kg. 

Elsewhere torque has been boosted to 295lb from the standard 273, with the promise of better mid-range muscle, aided by a lower first, second and third gear. Toyota says they provide “a pleasing sense of gear engagement.” There’s also another 3.3m of structural adhesive and more body bracing for increased rigidity, 245-section Michelin Cup 2s (in place of the 235-section Yokohama Advans) and new bucket seats exclusive to the Morizo to keep the driver hugged tight. Finally, the new model gets additional Alcantara inside and an exclusive Matte Steel paint with Morizo’s signature on the windshield. So don’t go damaging it off-road. Which Toyota seems very keen for buyers to do (though perhaps on some different tyres), if the development video is anything to go by. 

Otherwise the Morizo is standard, though it’s hard to imagine any objections when that means more than 300hp from the turbo triple, a six-speed manual gearbox and double Torsen diffs. Alongside an “enhanced dynamic performance”, it’s easy to imagine many dedicated GRheads clamouring for a Morizo. Just none from PH, of course.  

Which leads us on to availability. Toyota has revealed the Morizo Edition alongside the GR Corolla RZ, which is the car we saw earlier in the year but for the Japanese market. The two-seat car is actually going to the US, with both shown simultaneously. “GR Corolla Morizo Edition is scheduled to be available in limited quantities through GR Garage locations nationwide from this winter, with a reservation lottery for it planned to start this fall”, said the press release, with interested parties told to keep an eye on the website for more details. 

Either way, there hardly seems much doubt that the special edition car will be the one to go for – assuming you’re the sort of American who can come to terms with that missing rear bench. We definitely could. We’re also becoming more and more excited about what Toyota has planned for its next trick…


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