Believe it or not, Toyotas are finally desirable! And it's all thanks to Gazoo Racing and the GR Yaris, GR Corolla, GR86 and Supra | Opinion

Toyota has a performance car problem - popularity.

Which is a lot better than the problem it had a decade ago, which was it didn’t have any performance cars to speak of. Since the arrival of the 86 in 2012 the Japanese brand has taken a slow and methodical ramp up of the Gazoo Racing (GR) brand to get to the current point, which sees the line-up consist of the GR Yaris, GR Supra and the upcoming GR86 and GR Corolla.

The issue with these cars isn’t acceptance, which typically would have likely been the biggest obstacle for the brand to overcome. Instead, performance car fans have embraced these new models so fully and completely that demand far outstrips supply.

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The GR Yaris arrived at the end of 2020 and already the company has had to close the order book because the wait times were only growing longer as customers were wowed by the rally-inspired hot hatch despite its high asking price. In fact, Toyota Australia has now ceased sales of the GR Yaris for over 12 months, and it doesn't look like order books are reopening soon.

The company reportedly holds more than 2000 orders for the GR Yaris and there’s no clear indication of when those would-be buyers will get their cars.

The problem is actually at the source, with the Japanese factory that makes the GR Yaris planned to shut down for a two week period in July because Toyota cannot get enough parts from suppliers. 

Unfortunately, all signs point to this being the case with both the new GR86 and the GR Corolla too, with demand expected to far out-strip the Australian supply. In the case of the 86, its Subaru cousin - the BRZ - sold out its 2022 allocation in just three months, which doesn’t bode well for 86 given it was proven to be the more popular of the pair in the past.

As for the GR Corolla, even if Toyota Australia learns from the success of the GR Yaris, the global supply of the car is so limited that it’s unlikely there will be any extra supply of cars locally. So expect the GR Corolla to sell-out in days, if not hours, regardless of whatever price Toyota finally settles on.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the only Toyota performance car without a significant wait time is the most expensive and oldest model, the GR Supra. With a starting price of $87,303 (plus on-road costs) for the GT model it seems the price and relative lack of practicality compared to the hot hatch models has helped the Supra remain in adequate supply.

However, the brand will introduce a manual transmission to the line-up, which could rejuvenate interest in the model, which is now in its third year on sale.

It’s obviously a good problem for Toyota to have and proves the company’s careful introduction of its Gazoo Racing brand and models has been successful - at least in terms of generating demand and excitement for its cars.