WHAT IT IS Toyota’s planning a sporty, fun EV in the mold of the old MR2, providing another injection of adrenaline to the still-young GR subbrand.
Toyota’s EV game has been off to a slow start. After spending years insisting gas-electric hybrids marked a more realistic path to tackling emissions and a more efficient way to allocate finite battery resources—spreading electrification across millions of vehicles, not tens of thousands—it begrudgingly entered the space with the so-so bZ4X crossover. Although the RAV4-like bZ4X offers the right packaging and price point for the moment, it’s also pretty boring and suffers from subpar driving range and charging speeds. Luckily, a more exciting Toyota EV is in the wings.
Details on the sports car are thin, but Toyota executives have been dropping hints that a vehicle like it could be coming, promising “fun” EVs that’ll entice gearheads like the company’s own president, Akio Toyoda, who has been a leading proponent of the GR series, which now includes the Supra and GR86 sports cars and the GR Corolla.
Given the Sports EV concept’s modest dimensions and decidedly mid-engine-evoking layout, it would either make do with a rather small battery or benefit from new solid-state technology that can pack more usable capacity into a smaller volume. Such tech has been floated for a Lexus sports car that’s also allegedly in the works, but we should point out solid-state batteries have yet to see widespread commercialization.
Provided Toyota can sort out the battery situation while ensuring this sports car delivers competitive driving range and a reasonable curb weight, it would make a compelling entry to the automaker’s increasingly sporty lineup. Besides, it’s been more than a decade since Toyota has sold an MR2 sports car. Why not bring that icon back as an EV?
All of this fun and sportiness won’t come cheap, with a starting price for the new Toyota GR EV expected to be somewhere in the $65,000 range.
Best estimate at this point is a 2026 calendar year debut as a 2027 model vehicle.
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