More Toyota Rebranding As Iconic GR Models To Lose Toyota Badge

SAUDI ARABIA: Toyota’s Gazoo Racing (GR) will transition to simply being called ‘Gazoo Racing’ by 2027, dropping the Toyota badging. So, what changes? Models like the GR Yaris, GR86, and GR Corolla will be just that, and no longer the Toyota GR Yaris and so on, so forth. The Gazoo Racing brand’s rebranding begs important questions: will the brand also get its own dealerships and service centres? At the moment, there is no clear answer to this. Before the split, GR cars were sold and serviced through Toyota dealerships only. GR is getting its own dealerships and service centres won’t be unheard of for Toyota because that’s exactly what they’ve done for Lexus.

The leadership at Toyota has been making major moves since last year. With the beginning of a new year, the announcements do not seem to stop. For the leadership, these changes are being made to allow each brand to grow into its own, in a very similar way that Land Rover is making Range Rover its own thing. But in a world where people are already sick and tired of luxury vehicles, what’s the point of letting GR become its own thing? The brand already has great GR models, and its expansion only has the potential to dilute the GR ethos and overall appeal among fans. It is surprising that a brand like Toyota is not acknowledging its own longstanding traditions of less is more. 

The GR brand is expected to continue to produce “motorsports-bred vehicles.” The latest announcements of the GR line include the 2027 Toyota GR GT and the GR GT3 models. They will feature a newly developed V8 petrol-electric hybrid engine. In terms of upcoming models, it is expected that the Celica and the MR2 may get their own GR spinoffs, along with a successor to the Toyota GR Supra.

FAQs

Q1) Are GR cars getting discontinued?

A) No, GR cars are not getting discontinued. GR will now become its own brand and will no longer just be a line of cars from Toyota. The GR brand will be a subsidiary of Toyota.

Q2) Will GR cars stop selling at Toyota dealerships?

A) There is currently no information on whether GR cars will stop selling at Toyota dealerships or not.

Also Read: The Rumours Were True: Hyundai Staria Electric Revealed As Hyundai’s Largest EV Yet