2027 Toyota GR MR2 spotted testing

Toyota has been spotted testing a compact sports car at Fuji Speedway, with some speculating it to be the upcoming MR2 revival while others believe it could be the next-gen Celica. Either way, the impressive-looking coupe was packing a hot-sounding four-cylinder engine and what sounded like a manual transmission.

Looking like a concoction of left over GR Yaris body parts draped over an all-new coupe silhouette, the mystery prototype casts a very different shadow to the WRC-spec Celica found testing in Portugal earlier this year with its lower and more tapered roofline.

It stands to reason then this is indeed an all-new MR2/MRS – even though it’s clearly a coupe and not a convertible – and judging by the sound bite in the clip posted to X by @You_SuiKoyoAZ, it’s packing Toyota’s next-gen 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine that’ll supposedly be good for up to 300kW.

More intriguingly, the gear change is slow by automatic standards, suggesting this particular vehicle is fitted with a manual transmission.

The angry aero and sliding cat flap window has led some to speculate this to be a racing prototype rather than a production model, but Toyota has already shown it develops its road cars alongside their competition counterparts – as per GR Yaris and GR GT.

Still, that hasn’t stopped us taking a crack at what the production version could look like based on the spy assets (with some AI assistance), and the end result is tantalising.

Toyota hasn’t formally announced a timeline for the resurgent MR2/MRS, nor the Celica, but the emergence of both this prototype and the aforementioned WRC Celica tells us development of both models is progressing.

Given the Celica is anticipated to race WRC next year – when the regulations are watered down to be more production-based – it’d be reasonable to expect the production car to debut sometime between now and the start of the new season.

As for the MR2/MRS, Toyota was reportedly having some issues honing the dynamic balance of early mid-ship prototypes, however we’d expect the debut to happen sometime next year, if not early 2028.

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