Why Toyota Built A Secret Garage For Its World-Beating Supercar In Frisco, Texas

Being a native-born Texan, when I drew my first breath I was endowed with certain inalienable rights, and that among these were an appreciation for good brisket, a wariness of anyone who prefers mild salsa, and a pursuit of happiness that often includes jokes about other places in Texas. While I will defend the honor of any part of Texas against the vituperation of someone from, like, Delaware or whatever, it’s my God-given right to make cracks about Waco.

Having attended my fair share of debate tournaments and football games in the various Dallas suburbs, I have my biases. If you’d have asked me what I first thought of when someone mentioned Frisco, I’d have said it was one of the only places in America you could walk from a Whataburger to an In-N-Out Burger. It turns out it’s also home to a now not-so-secret garage where Lexus dealers were treated to a glimpse of Toyota’s GR supercar, and will soon become a hub of that new brand.

The Morning Dump will not all be Texas, because the world is (slightly) bigger than The Lone Star State. Take Hungary; that’s a place. In particular, it’s a place that’s been on the receiving in of a huge amount of Chinese investment. There’s a new sheriff in town, so what does that mean for companies like BYD?

While China is contemplating its investment in Hungary, Japanese automakers like Honda are still putting money in China. Specifically, Honda is killing its EVs in the United States while it comes out with new electric cars for China.

One of the weird cars I’d like to own one day is a Roland Garros Peugeot 205. I’m just like that. I wouldn’t kick a Renault 4 Rollans-Garros E-Tech out of the garage for eating madeleines if you catch my drift.

Inside The GR Garage

 

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Akio Toyoda loves sports cars and motorsports, which is obvious when you look at a Toyota lineup that’s moved from beige to bitching during his tenure as the company’s CEO. One of his most audacious ventures is the GR GT, a six-figure hybrid supercar meant to compete with the Mustang GTDs, Porsche 911 GT3s, and Corvette ZR1Xes of the world.

With 641 horsepower from its 4.0-liter V8 and single electric motor, it’ll be the fastest thing from Toyota since the LFA. That was a Lexus. This new thing is a GR and will have its own GR-branding. Who is going to sell it?

That’s where the secret garage in Frisco, not far from Toyota’s North American HQ, becomes necessary. The United States is a key market for the GR brand, but it’s going to be something new for dealers who have made a career on Camrys, RAV4s, ES350s.

Prior to the reveal of the GT, a prototype was quietly sent to Frisco, where a huge facility was created to house the new car (allegedly, it’s the old Dude Perfect building). Automotive News got an early preview and describes the thought process:

For Lexus dealers, signing up means investment and dedicating dealership space to GR models. The products will be as radically different from the existing lineup as the short-lived Lexus LFA was from an ES sedan. It also means attracting a very different customer, said Andrew Gilleland, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor North America.

“That [GR GT] buyer is a high-performance car enthusiast and collector who values race-bred authenticity, rarity and emotional driving,” Gilleland said. “They’re looking for extreme performance on the track and on the road, and something different from the typical European supercar crowd. These aren’t just luxury buyers, they’re enthusiasts, track day drivers and racing fans.”

Scores of Lexus dealers from around the country have already toured what the automaker has named the GR Experience Center here over the last several months. So far, more than 100 have taken the initial step to acquire a franchise, a spokesperson told Automotive News.

This is a small volume car, so Toyota-Lexus dealers aren’t going to have to build-out totally new buildings for the car, but can use existing facilities. This keeps the potential investment down to a lower level for any dealer who plans to make the jump.

Here’s one more interesting tidbit:

[D]ealers who have visited the experience center are being told that there will be other GR-branded performance vehicles in the future to bolster the fledgling brand’s lineup.

Obviously, we already have the GR Corolla and RAV4 GR Sport. I wonder, though, if this might not be the new Supra or maybe the next MR2-type object? That this is happening in Frisco, Texas of all places is a little amusing to me, because I think of Frisco as a place where nothing happens.

Are Chinese Automakers Still Welcome In Hungary?

The European Union, as a concept, is a union of countries with remarkably different fates in the 20th century. While there are divisions between more and less liberal populations, as well as wealthy and less-wealthy countries, the biggest disparity is often where the Soviet army stopped after WWII.

I love Hungary, and have passed many great hours with friends there drinking Fröccs and taking in the baths. Hungarians are a lovely people, by and large, and it’s been a little hard to watch them stifled under an increasingly Russia-aligned and often autocratic government. These same conditions made Hungary, which has open borders for trade with other EU countries, a perfect landing place for a ton of Chinese investment. Both BYD and battery maker CATL have placed their biggest European projects in Hungary (you can see the appeal for pro-censorship BYD).

Hungarians, by a large margin, overturned the existing government and gave challenger Peter Magyar’s more pro-EU Tisza party a supermajority. What does this mean for Chinese automakers? Manager Magazin (translated) explains the challenge:

Officially, little is known about the potential China policy of Magyar’s TISZA party. Much suggests that Magyar will pragmatically allow the massive Chinese investments in key sectors such as e-mobility, batteries, and infrastructure to continue – not least because they have become crucial for growth and jobs. CATL and BYD have created thousands of jobs with their operations and aim to make Hungary one of the most important European locations for electromobility – Magyar will not easily jeopardize this.

At the same time, Magyar is likely to emphasize greater transparency and stronger European integration of China policy. He could, for example, try to make existing agreements more open, subject them to stronger controls, and link them more clearly to Hungarian and European interests.

Chinese automakers need to be held to the same standards as everyone else, and the sooner that happens the better it’ll be for everyone.

Check Out The Honda Insight EV For China

Here in the United States, we get exactly no Honda EVs these days, once all the Prologues are sold. We’ll probably get more one day. Maybe. In the interim, the Honda Insight lives on as an electric car in China that’ll debut at the Beijing Auto Show this week. From the press release:

The all-new Insight was developed as an EV with a distinctive character, which commands a strong presence and offers exceptional customer comfort. Its exterior styling is instantly recognizable for its unique character and features a sharp, yet flowing form that evokes a sense of powerful and dynamic driving performance, intending to draw attention naturally on the street in urban areas.

The cabin features a package and interior design that ensures a comfortable and relaxing ride not only for the driver but also for all passengers, offering a high-quality and valuable space realized by a wide range of comfort features. Moreover, without compromising the joy of driving and sporty driving performance unique to Honda, the all-new Insight realizes a range per charge of 535 km (332 miles) in the WLTC mode*1, offering a sufficient range for a wide variety of everyday driving situations, from daily commuting and shopping to weekend drives.

Honda has seen a downturn in sales in China, and recently shut down one of its JV plants building combustion-powered cars. The Insight was developed with Honda partner Dongfeng Motor and is based on the co-developed e:NS2.

C’est Le Meilleur

The Autopian has written a lot about the vintage Renault 4, but not much about the Renault 4 E-Tech. Perhaps we’re just too distracted by the Renault 5 E-Tech and new Twingo. You know what’s a good way to grab my attention? A Rolland-Garros Edition! French automakers love making tributes to the tennis facility where the French Open is played.

“In this “sporty chic” interpretation, the Renault 4 Roland-Garros E-Tech electric show-car extends the very atmosphere of the tournament through its choice of materials and colour. The opening canvas roof evokes the open sky above the courts, a roofless space where players breathe as freely as spectators. Clay is subtly present in the terracotta accents, the tournament’s foundational surface and signature of its identity. Even the gestures become a tribute: the e-pop shifter gear lever tip, inspired by the grip of tennis rackets, turns driving into a direct reference to tennis. The lightweight, structured white technical knit fabric echoes performance attire. The blue stitching and finishes reinforce the idea of a sport that is both demanding and elegant, where technical mastery elevates style.”

It’ll just be a show car, but you can buy the Renault R5 Roland-Garros.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD

If you were looking for a modern take on Rosemary Clooney, you could hardly do better than Icelanding jazz pop/jazz star Laufey. Her latest video for “Madwoman” includes skating star Alyssa Liu and that guy from the show Alanis can’t stop talking about.

The Big Question

What should the next performance-oriented Toyota be?

Top photo: Toyota