Much like BMW, Toyota has been quite vocal about how the combustion engine's demise shouldn't be rushed on the road to carbon neutrality. It believes there must be a mix of powertrains to allow people to decide what's best for their needs, especially since the EV charging infrastructure is still underdeveloped in many parts of the world. More electric cars are coming, but the Japanese automaker is not giving up on the ICE just yet.
In an interview with Australian magazine Drive.com.au, the local man in charge of sales and marketing spoke about the road to electrification during a roundtable with journalists at the Corolla Cross Hybrid's launch event. Sean Hanley said Toyota is "not opposed to battery-electric vehicles," but a diversity of products is the right way to go in the foreseeable future. He was referring to hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and fuel-cell hydrogen models. All vehicles will be electrified to some extent by the end of the decade but with one exception – Gazoo Racing models.
2023 Toyota Supra with manual gearbox (Europe)
Indeed, Hanley said that "by 2030 every Toyota in our range, apart from GR performance cars, will have some form of electrification." The statement comes only a couple of weeks after GR86 chief engineer said there aren't going to be additional GR models beyond the Yaris, Corolla, 86, and Supra. Will all of them continue for the next seven years? Hopefully.
Toyota knows its audience and sticking to ICE-only powertrains will appeal to enthusiasts looking to buy a performance vehicle. Speaking of which, the six-cylinder GR Corolla finally got the manual gearbox it deserved while the GR Yaris pocket rocket will inherit the potent engine from the GR Corolla Morizo Edition.
There is one piece of the GR puzzle we're missing – Whatever happened to the GR Super Sport? The last time we heard – which was in September 2021 – the hypercar was a concept and Toyota was studying the "potential commercialization." Considering what the GR86's chief engineer just said about limiting the GR range to four models, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high...
