Ever since the debut of the Scion FR-S way back in 2013, Toyota has talked about building “three brothers” of sports cars — a lineup to match the Supra, Celica, and AE86 Corolla of old. The Supra and 86 slots have long been filled, but that third brother has remained elusive. Some thought it meant the baby S-FR, others pondered about a new MR-2, others still thought the GR Yaris or GR Corolla would take the rally Celica’s spot. More recently, though, it’s become clear: A new Celica is in the works.
Toyota hasn’t said much publicly about the car, but bits and pieces of information have trickled out of Toyota City to give us some sense of what might come down the pipe — if, in fact the new Celica is actually approved by the company’s higher-ups. The car is in active development, but comments from folks involved make it sound like nothing’s sure yet. In fact, the car being developed at Toyota may not even end up with a Celica name after all that work. The company is certainly working on something, though, and some interviews and public statements can give us an idea about what it might look like.
Is a new Celica really confirmed?
Late last year, Toyota vice president Yuki Nakajima told crowds that a new Celica was coming — while mentioning in the same breath that “there is no sign of it right now.” Just last week, Toyota North America’s Vice President of Product Planning and Strategy told MotorTrend that work was continuing apace. He lambasted the inaccuracy of AI-generated images floating around the web, but also said that “we are working on a product that could theoretically go by the Celica name If we can figure out how to pull it off and it gets approved.” Every announcement, every mention of the car’s name in public, always comes with some amount of hedging on Toyota’s part. The Celica seems far from confirmed, but it does sound like at least some folks at the company want to see the car hit dealer floors.
Dealers have seen concepts for the new car already, according to MotorTrend, and mules are running around in secret. But without leaks from those dealers, without spies photographing those mules, there’s little we can tell about the possibly-upcoming car. It could be electric, hybrid, or ICE, it could have two doors or more, it may never even see the light of day. But we know it’ll be sporty, we know it’ll fit into the slot left by that third brother, and we can reasonably guess that the gearheads at Toyota want enthusiasts to show enthusiasm for a new Celica that the bean counters can bank on when approving a new car. After all, why would they give all that media attention to a car that hasn’t yet been approved if not to bolster its chanced of making it?