Automakers love showing future products to dealers, usually through private, invite-only events. It gets salespeople excited, giving them a taste of what’s to come. These events are almost always behind-closed-doors, no-camera affairs, which means the news circuit doesn’t get a peek at what goes on. It seems someone didn’t get the memo at this year’s Toyota dealer expo in Las Vegas.
An Instagram user going by the name mysupraadventures published a fairly comprehensive set of photos over two posts that look to show the upcoming GRMN Corolla fully undisguised (Toyota declined to comment on the images when reached by The Autopian). We get a clear look at the front, the back, and even the interior. No surprises here: This thing looks great.
Let’s start at the front. The car shown here has a few obvious changes versus the standard GR Corolla, including the glossy carbon fiber hood, the fender louvers, and the bronze wheels. The grille itself seems to be unchanged—not like it needed to be any larger, since it’s already a gigantic opening. Importantly, those fender cut-outs match the fenders shown on a camouflaged test mule shown by Toyota in April, giving a bit more credibility to this car’s authenticity.
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Out back, the only big difference we can see is the bigger, glossy carbon fiber rear wing at the top of the hatch panel. Again, the shape matches up with the wing shown on Toyota’s official prototype photos. Also, the matte grey color is new for the GR Corolla lineup.
Inside is where things get really interesting. The seats are the star of the show; the normal chairs have been swapped out for a pair of absolutely awesome-looking, two-tone adjustable bucket-style seats with the GR logo stitched into the headrest. There’s lots of bolstering going on here, presumably because this’ll be a track-oriented machine.
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The rear seat bench has been deleted altogether, replaced with a crossbar mounted behind the front seatbacks. Those with a strong knowledge of GR Corolla theory will know this is the same setup used on the Morizo edition, the obvious purpose being weight savings (the Morizo was 84 pounds lighter than the standard car). In the Morizo you couldn’t even put the rear windows down; it’ll likely be the same story with the GRMN.
Speaking of GRMN, how do we know it’ll even use that name? Toyota’s never officially confirmed the title. Well, thanks to these pictures, we don’t have to wonder. A close-up photo of the (thankfully manual) shifter and center console shows a “GRMN” badge glued directly to the plastic, just below the drive mode rocker switch. We can see red stitching on the console, the gearshift boot, and the steering wheel. There’s also a 12 o’clock stripe on the wheel, too.
So now everyone knows what the GRMN Corolla will look like, assuming that’s what this is. But it’s not clear what sorts of upgrades it’s hiding under the hood. The normal GR uses a turbocharged three-cylinder making 300 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque; it’ll likely make a bit more for this application. I’m more curious about the weight savings. Going by the lack of rear seats, the specific fenders, and all that carbon, I bet it’ll be even lighter than the Morizo. Plus, who knows what other sorts of suspension and drivetrain changes Toyota is planning?
Toyota is once again proving it’s the best carmaker in the game right now.
Top photo: Toyota
I want them to sell it wrapped exactly like this as an option.
Interior trim shown in the shifter photo looks clean and upscale. No more glitzy, scratch prone piano black plastic!
Toyota would have so much more performance credibility if they actually honored their warranty.
Too many reports of them finding bs tangential reasons to deny warranty claims. Unrelated aftermarket parts, or “excessive speed” – also immaterial but especially galling when they’ve offered track memberships as a purchase perk.
That’s without even getting into the general markup gouging of their dealers on the performance models.
GRMN – always gets translated to “Garmin” in my head.
My brain makes it “gremlin”.
Or “Grumman”
Oh wow I thought the Corolla Grumman would be more van-like. Perhaps the production model won’t have rear windows? 😛
Can I request providing actual pictures in articles, and links to Instagram? I get the desire to drive traffic to your socials, but some of us are behind work firewalls and cannot view the posts, so all this article is for me is a bunch of text about blank boxes 🙁
Second this! Bunch of blank boxes. Screenshots of the insta posts would be fine.
social media platforms have rules about how news sites are supposed to use their data.
in this instance, trust Google results not me, you can search “copyright law for news sites using photos from social media” and get exactly what I’ll share below:
“News organizations cannot automatically use photos from social media without permission; they must rely on the copyright holder’s explicit permission or the fair use doctrine.”
so it seems that social media sites do indeed allow direct linking of photos through embedding without concern, otherwise, the autopian would have to reach out to mysupraadventures and get their permission to use the photos in this site. so not really that simple to just copy/pasta.
Thanks, I hate it.
This article is a nothing sandwich because of it.
I’ll also add, that I didn’t even realize that it was NOT an Autopian Instagram post until now. Reading comprehension failure on my part.
I agree wholeheartedly, my opinion, as a layperson is that fair use needs to be expanded, maybe tested, not sure if this site can afford that test.
Thing looks cool as hell. I bet it rips!
I would assume they’ve updated the rear diff cooling?
let’s pray
I kinda dig the camo.
I’m sure it’ll cost $65,000 before dealers get a hold of it and six figures once they do. I assume they’ll be running full credit and background checks before they even let you within six feet of it. No thanks. The GRolla is a car that you buy in the basest of base specs and drive like you stole until it gives up the ghost.
In the low 40s new it’s a great value and you can already find used ones in the low 30s/maybe high 20s if you’re patient. If all you care about is value I’ll also bet the automatic ones are going to be worth pennies on the dollar in a few years because the transmission kind of sucks…although that almost certainly doesn’t apply to anyone here.
This ain’t a collector car, even though Toyota wants it to be. It’s a driver’s car. If you’re into it go buy the most barebones one you can find and drive it as god intended.
Yep, as cool as this is, price is going to be everything when it comes to its success and the track record for dealerships is poor when it come to hot hatches.
I just did a quicky autotrader search for cars under $60k. Within 50 miles there’s a 2018 ZL1 1LE for $58k, and a 2018 C7 grand sport for $53k. Those both seem overpriced but they’d run circles around the GR.
There’s also a 2020 Mustang GT with a Roush stage 3 package for $48k.. I’m not a Mustang fan but that is mighty tempting.
This is exactly why the GRC is a car you buy in base form. You can also get a new Integra Type S for a little over 50 and it’s an exponentially nicer car. If it came down to a high spec GRC or ITS I’d go ITS every single time. You can also get a Golf R at that point and really the only thing the GRC has over it is the manual transmission. For some people that’s everything, to be fair. But for me? I’d take the DSG Golf R every time…especially with a 5 cylinder waiting in the wings
Plus you can do everything you want to it without ruining a “special edition.”
Lots of discussion on the GR forum and a bit on FB. Mostly whether it was real or not (it is), and about the seats-fenders-hood-spoiler-wheels-paint.
The boy racer in me likes the fender, keep it white to match my car. The hood not matching the roof was a point of contention (two diff types of CF). The wheels, meh, look like my old BBS wheels I had on the WRX. I do like the seats.
For those of us who don’t, an explainer on what a “GRMN” is or what the name means might have been helpful. I don’t remember seeing anything on the site about a rumored hotter GR Corolla but if there was something a link would have been nice.
GRMN stands for “Gazoo Racing: Masters of the Nurburgring” and sounds like the title of an obscure video game from the early ’00s. Perhaps it’s like Lord of the Rings but they all drive Super Touring Cars?
I bet this thing buzzes like the angriest of bees.
I owned a GR Corolla for a year (it was too small/impractical as my daily so traded to something bigger) and by far the thing I miss most about it was the growl from that engine. It sounded so much bigger and meatier than it was, and there is no fake noise generator of any kind in that car.
The Chris King hub of cars?
angry bees!