After many months of rumors about a Celica revival, reports now say that the return of the Toyota sports coupe could come as early as five months from now. Not only that, but the Celica will reportedly be powered purely by gasoline to the tune of about 400 horsepower, putting it above the Supra in terms of performance and on par with the Nissan Z.
The report comes from Best Car, which says the Celica will come equipped with a turbocharged 2.0-liter engine making around 400 ps and 406 lb-ft of torque. It’s a four-cylinder version of the turbo three currently used in the GR Yaris and GR Corolla. The report also says that while the Celica will be an AWD front-engined car, the same engine will be used in the MR2 revival. Available transmissions will include a 6-speed manual and Toyota’s DAT 8-speed automatic.
Both current Toyota president Koji Sato and former president and current chairman Akio Toyoda have expressed their wishes to bring back the Celica. Toyota has also officially confirmed their commitment to the inline-four gasoline engine. With so many rumors swirling, we’d say there’s a greater than 50 percent chance that this actually happens. Toyota will likely use the Tokyo Auto Salon venue to gauge customer response, and if it’s positive we can probably expect a production version to be shown at next year’s Japan Mobility Show or the following year’s Auto Salon.
So, at that equipment level, it’s price point will take it completely out of the segment that the Celica traditionally occupied. it will have to be priced above the Civic Type R or Integra Type S, I hope this is just the typical Best Car hype and not the reality of it.
I like the revival of the Celica. However, I was thinking a GOOD LOOKING sport coupe, perhaps a hatch, with 2WD and AWD variants (either works for me), and relative simplicity and efficiency. Keep the screen count down low, not like that new Mustang. That interior is horrible. When I read 400hp and “above Supra” I am thinking this is too high a level. More is not always better, and at least this has an ICE without a hybrid. But do we really NEED another 400 hp fun car? My Miata puts a smile on my face every drive, because I can put my foot to the floor and hear a nice sound and experience excellent shifting and handling. I really think the Subaru engined Breeze or Freeze-GR86 whatever is the REAL Celica.
I totally agree about the Miata. When I was in my twenties I thought the more power the better. As I got older I realized what really brought a smile to my face was a well balanced chassis on a twisty mountain road. I drove a Dodge Viper at a drivers school when they new and remember how much the power just destroyed the handling dynamics. I never want to take one on the same roads I drive my RX-8 on. The mere thought scares me to death.
The Celica was always a less expensive, lower performance model than the Supra. Having better performance than the Supra really does not make sense for the Celica brand, unless the Supra is going away, or it is moving up the food chain to become an even more expensive model. Either scenario could be true as BMW is not likely to continue the Z4 chassis beyond the existing one. This would leave Toyota looking for a new partner, or Toyota could move the Supra onto the LC platform, which to me makes way more sense. I would love to see a new Celica, but in todays market not being an SUV of some kind is death and I really do not care to see the Celica brand become like the Crown, an oversized SUV looking thing.
As everyone has mentioned, every time I hear this rumor with the power levels they’re talking about and then they say it’s likely for a new Celica and/or MR2, I just don’t know what Celica & MR2 they’re talking about, nor do I know how that would ever make sense when the Supra has less power from a borrowed I-6 at a price point that’s already double what a Celica needs to be under.
I don’t see it.
I really hope that’s just some madlad homologation special like the GT-Four was.
If they do make a new Celica I there *must* be some base model with FWD and a NA four yoinked from a Camry or a RAV4 for example. It’s literally how the Celica name went big – the WRC victories did count, but for most part it was a small and stylish coupe/convertible that was cheap as it used most of the parts from other mainstream Toyotas.
If this happens then I’m sure it’ll become popular, the cheap coupe market is currently occupied only by the Toyobaru twins, plus the Honda Prelude is gonna join soon, and none of them have convertible variants.
The most powerful version of the last Celica sold in the US had 180hp. The pseudo- replacement Scion tC had 180 at its peak unless you count the TRD supercharger available on the first version which brought it from 160 up to 200.
The most powerful Celica ever had a supposed “242” HP but even in reality was nowhere near 400.
I’m not sure the Celica name is right for the car described unless the plan is to also make a less powerful and more affordable economy version. Which is what the Celica was, a sporty economy car.
And it goes without saying that it won’t be a Celica if it is available with more than 3 doors. Especially not if it’s considered, even tangentially, a crossover
Make a $28k version and I’ll buy one.
I tried posting last night, probably caught in the spam filter, but really everything I typed has been said. I agree with everyone else, 400hp doesn’t make sense for a factory Celica, or MR2 for that matter.
Less boost on a 2.0 for sub 300hp and needs to be under $30k. And no resemblance to anything SUV, only 2 passenger doors plus a liftback.
I dunno why I typed 2 “passenger” doors. 2 doors + liftback.
The Supras drive train needs to be replaced. the whole Supra needs to be redone. im a past owner of 4 Supras, 80s and 90s.
I always wished they would build a 400 hp awd Celica or Mr2 it would be the perfect package.
the awd rally Celicas were so hot and so under powered.
I’ll be in line for one.
Things will never be like they were during the bubble era, with a manufacturer offering multiple cars in a single category. We will be lucky when the only car a manufacturer is offering in a category is not one that was cross-engineered with another manufacturer, yeah I am looking at you Supra!
And the Horsepower war of the 2000’s happened, so no car with less than 200hp will ever be taken seriously on the market. I remember reading a review about the Toyota Sienna, the reviewer complained that accelerating to merge on a highway was slow and laborious! In a van with a 0-60 of about 8 seconds! I remember driving cars with less than 90hp back when minivans were pushing about 130hp, when a 0-60 of ten seconds was alright, and we merged on the same highway with traffic going at the same speed as right now.
Anyway back to this Celica, I kind of understand this car being a 400hp sports car, Toyota wants to have a sports car in each bracket, for each wallet, and not two sports cars cross-shopped together making only one sale. So they have the 200hp BRZ, the 300-ish Supra, and now they will make the 400hp Celica.
Think about it, the 2.0l Supra WAS the Celica we should have gotten! And my 300-ish Supra I wrote about just now is more like 380, if my memory is not failing me… They just got their legacy names in the wrong order, someone must have wanted to market the Supra first, or the folks at BMW though it was not classy enough to cross-engineer their Z4 with a lowly Celica!
Let’s just hope this new Celica is a driver’s car and not too expensive.