Gazoo Racing doesn’t mean much to most people. It will eventually do so though, as the might of Toyota places ever more emphasis on this sub-brand via multiple motorsport disciplines and a growing range of cars. The priciest GR model yet is the A90 Supra, a GBP50,000+ rocket that’s also a very different driving experience indeed to its non-identical twin, the BMW Z4.
Toyota Motor Corporation’s global media operations are constantly pushing the message that GR is the new, cool face of a company which was once best known for producing excellent yet often forgettable cars. The irony is that for more than half a century, Toyota’s sports cars – starting with the 2000GT made famous by James Bond – were the constant exceptions to this general rule, being almost always beautiful.
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Design and heritage
For a time, some of us wondered if Akio Toyoda might have gone too far in instructing TMC’s design teams to push the limits of what constituted an eye-catching vehicle. Think those first Lexus cars and SUVs with the ‘spindle’ grille and their angular dashboards, then throw in various polarising Toyotas such as the Mirai and every generation of the Prius.
The dramatic front ends of Lexus models eventually grew on me and the RC F became an object of lust after I drove and heard it. Yet I wonder how the gaping grille will work in the imminent era of battery-powered vehicles. We will find out soon.
Back to Toyota brand cars. Happily, the latest Corolla and next year’s second generation of the E segment hydrogen fuel cell car show the middle ground of great design has now been reached. There is no desire to shock, and hurrah, finally we are seeing beauty as a consistent factor. Maybe the next Prius will even have rear indicators that aren’t way too small and a rethink of those epic tail lights. They look fantastic when illuminated yet can also lend this not-so-small car an ill at ease narrow stance. Could this be one of the reasons why, four years on, sales of the 690A series model remain disappointing in the model’s traditional major markets of California and Japan?
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By GlobalDataWhat about the Supra; is it part of TMC’s historic designed-to-shock era or a beautiful car? Does it succeed as a model which takes the name of an acclaimed design last seen in the 1990s and drops it into 2019? It does indeed, with an arresting thud. The most common thing I heard said each time someone asked me about this ferociously fast fastback over the course of a week was, “your car looks like the Batmobile. What is it?”
Toyota is the UK’s seventh most popular make of car and somehow, a lot of people see the badge and have no idea that those ovals are meant to form a T shape. Hyundai and Honda’s logos, each of which uses a different stylised H, are equally indistinct to the average Arthur or Martha resident in these islands. The Supra isn’t meant to be just a brand awareness builder though, its job being to promote the GR badge and with it, the idea that Gazoo Racing equals fast cars, some of which have high prices.
Motor sport
The major, and rising success enjoyed by Groupe Renault’s recreation of Alpine has proved to be a bellwether for Toyota Motor Europe and its promotion of the GR name. A remarkable 3,450 examples of the A110 were sold in European markets during the first three quarters of this year, according to ACEA. Remarkable due to the car’s steep sticker and the fact that it’s been available for two years now. Normally, such vehicles attract a waiting list and then a year or two later, hardly anyone wants one as the moment of hype has passed. Look at every generation of the Audi TT and BMW Z4 for evidence of that. And these are a couple of the few models which haven’t vanished from the segment, such has been the worldwide indifference to most sports cars (yes, the Mustang and Challenger and Camaro are exceptions in North America and the first of the three does very well in other regions too).
In its quest for credibility amongst those who Gazoo Racing’s cars are aimed at, Toyota knows it cannot hope to match the allure of Alpine’s rear-wheel drive rallying heritage from long ago. Having said that, the Japanese company is doing a terrific job of creating more recent history in that field. The sudden cancellation of the final race in the World Rally Championship due to the declaration of a state of emergency in New South Wales was poor luck for Gazoo Racing. That takes nothing away from Ott Tänak having already secured this year’s Driver’s Championship though (Hyundai won the manufacturer’s title). Sadly, we won’t now see the global debut of the new GR Yaris prototype this weekend.
TMC, which has just commemorated 30 years of Lexus, knows better than most that brands take a long time to develop and must be built on unbreakable foundations. Winning this year’s World Rally Championship, plus the domination of Le Mans – albeit in the absence of any other manufacturer – shows how determined Toyota is to shine the brightest light possible on its GR sub-brand. That effort will continue in 2020, as the arrival of the GR Supra GT4 racer attests, along with a return to the Dakar Rally (which, despite the name, is in Saudi Arabia).
Expanding the road car range
The huge resources going into motor racing in multiple categories would be questionable if TMC wasn’t also starting a new push to expand its range of GR road cars. The Supra remains at the top of the tree but a supercar similar to the Gazoo Racing Super Sport is expected to be built in small volumes, possibly from as soon as next year. Toyota dropped a strong hint about this in a short statement to the media at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 18 months ago. GR would be employing “cutting-edge hybrid electric systems and fuel efficiency technologies” to develop such a vehicle. This had been previewed by the Super Sport, a prototype which premiered in early 2018 at the Tokyo auto salon. Groupe PSA this week announced a rival model from Peugeot, while Aston Martin is also throwing its hat into the ring with the Valkyrie, a model of its own that will race at Le Mans.
At the other end of the scale, the Copen GR Sport, a version of Daihatsu’s Copen roadster, is from this month being supplied to Toyota dealers across Japan. This tiny convertible exists for several reasons: expanding the Gazoo Racing line-up and supporting production volumes at Daihatsu’s Ikeda 2 factory. The Japanese plant has been manufacturing the second generation Copen for five years now, so creating an altered car which wears Gazoo Racing badges is a clever move from a cost perspective. If the Copen GR Sport is a success it should be a win-win for both Daihatsu and its major shareholder.
A 660cc roadster which sends its power to the front wheels via a CVT isn’t likely to become a cult object for future collectors of GR cars yet it’s an interesting move. Not even Chevrolet, with its sports trim levels that extend from Red Line model grade small cars in China all the way up to the mighty Corvette, can now match the consistency of what TMC is doing with GR. We also know that a second generation of the 86 (GT86 in Britain) is being worked on by Subaru and TMC and while it’s taken a while for this model to appear, you can bet that next year’s successor will be worth the wait. Expect a 2.4-litre flat four engine and, for the first time on a Hachiroku, GR badging.
GR – only the future Yaris will be a Toyota-only project
One of the truly fascinating things about Gazoo Racing is that for all the cash poured into it, none of the road cars has been a solely Toyota project. Daihatsu, Subaru and BMW have all had at least a 50 per cent interest in the Copen, future 86 and current Supra. Does that matter? Not a jot, when the results are so compelling. And here is the expertise of TMC on full display: spend the big money on the top-level motorsport programmes but get costs and risk as low as possible for the road cars. That is what other OEMs haven’t always noticed.
Renault walked a different path with Alpine by using what are perfectly good powertrains and interior parts from an obsolete Clio. No-one buying the A110 minds. What they love is that the car itself is so thrilling to drive and looks so good. This is what the Supra has in common with Alpine. And you can bet that Toyota will also learn from Groupe Renault’s experience with the A110: don’t do it too often but add some faster, lighter, more extreme variants every year or so. And price them steeply. Will BMW do that with the Z4? It hasn’t happened in the past but that’s not to say it won’t in the future.
Ford also sees this, the Bullitt and Shelby GT500 being the best examples of how it has kept Mustang sales on the boil. Remember that car has been around for more than half a decade now. The real stand out success though comes from Fiat Chrysler US; all those Scat Pack, Hellcat, Red Eye and other editions or additions keeping demand high even though the basic vehicle is about to turn twelve. Just imagine how profitable the Challenger and its four-door Charger counterpart are.
The proof is in the driving
No amount of limited editions or ever more horsepower will work over the longer term if the model itself isn’t a sound design. In the case of the Supra it’s way more than that. This car is exciting. To look at, to sit in, to lift the bonnet of, to listen to at idle or anywhere in the rev range. And above all, to drive. To me, the A90 is better than the BMW G29 and I happen to love the latest Z4 in every possible way.
The Supra is faster than the Z4 (officially 4.3 seconds for 0-62mph) and its 2,998cc BMW turbocharged straight six’s outputs of 250kW (340PS) and 500Nm seem modest considering how it feels from behind the wheel. It’s only 4,379mm long yet tips the scales at 1,495kg in top-spec Pro form, which is what I had (for a wonderful week). The boot has only 290 litres, WLTP Combined consumption is 34.5mpg (if you go easy on the right pedal) and CO2 is 170g/km.
The cost – GBP54,000 for the well equipped Pro – is something of a bargain, in my opinion. I’m a sucker for any car that feels as alive in your hands as the A90 does. When it sounds as intense as this and stops you in your tracks every time you glance at it (black is the best colour), then it’s simply a case of surrendering and owning. My feeling is that TMC knows what it needs to do with the Supra, which is to keep developing it, pricing harder core special editions up towards Cayman and Boxster territory and then sit back and watch the buyers appear.
Supra saver
Those who say car makers will need to also own a premium brand which does big volume worldwide if they are to survive in the 2020s need to take a long look at TMC. The world’s richest, cleverest OEM just declared a net profit of 1.27 trillion yen (US$11.7bn) for fiscal H1. Never mind joint ventures, this company could easily buy BMW. Instead, it thinks like a firm which has only the smallest of cash cushions and so leverages partnerships to the max and saves money. The A90 Supra therefore is possibly the world’s most intelligently engineered sports car.
