Toyota is poised to bring back the Celica for an eighth generation, more than two decades after the last version went off sale, as an entry model for its new GR performance brand.
The sports coupé is set to return as part of chairman Akio Toyoda's ambition to resurrect the "three brothers" - his affectionate nickname for the Supra, MR2 and Celica. With the Supra revived through a partnership with BMW several years ago, and plans taking shape for an imminent resurrection of the mid-engined MR2, the Celica is tipped to be next down the line.
The firm has not yet committed to a timeline, but a test mule for Toyota's 2027 World Rally Championship contender was recently spotted with a radical new two-door body. Next year's WRC rules no longer tie bodywork to a current road car, but it would make sense for Toyota to use it to promote a new Celica.
Swapping from the GR Yaris the firm currently fields in the WRC to the Celica would be a return to form for Toyota, which has used several iterations of its coupé as the basis for factory rally cars over the years - winning the 1993 and 1994 WRC with Celicas.
As with previous generations, the new Celica road car is expected to be based heavily on more mainstream underpinnings - and logically those would be supplied in its next outing by the rakish new Corolla, which was previewed by a futuristic, mould-breaking concept at last year's Tokyo motor show.
A two-door, sporting-oriented take on its big-selling family hatchback would provide Toyota with a direct rival to the similarly conceived Honda Prelude - based on the Civic - and provide a less extreme entry point into the expanding GR line-up, which will be topped by the new V8-engined GR GT supercar.
The new model, which is being referred to internally as the Celica Sport, is expected to use the same 2.0-litre engine as the GR Yaris M concept that's being used as the mule for the new MR2, but here mounted at the front (as it has been for all seven previous generations), and forming part of a hybrid powertrain, à la Corolla.
The WRC's 2027 regulations mandate a 1.6-litre engine, so the rally car is expected to use an evolution of the current GR Yaris's engine, but Mikio Hayashi, marketing manager for Toyota's GR division, previously told Autocar that the three-pot "cannot meet emissions regulations, so we have to consider the possibility of a 2.0-litre" in the road-going derivative.
He said the firm was "not at a stage where we can tell you exactly what size it is" and that no decision had been made about whether to use a hybrid or plug-in hybrid powertrain. The Corolla will be available with both and, like the MR2, will use a new engine that is as small as possible to allow for a low-slung body and spacious cabin.
Irrespective of its exact powertrain, the new Celica is expected to be four-wheel drive - in rally and road-going forms - although there's no indication of plans to revive the GT-Four name.