Reborn Toyota MR2 hinted at by mid-ship GR Yaris

Toyota has taken its first public step towards reviving the MR2 sports car, having just debuted a mid-engined GR Yaris concept at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

Featured as part of an elaborate Gazoo Racing display, the 2025 Toyota GR Yaris M Concept has ditched its donor car’s lauded 1.6-litre turbo-triple in favour of Toyota’s new-generation 2.0-litre turbo four and mounted it behind the front seats.

All that’s left under the bonnet is the 12V battery, alternator, some cooling system plumping and extra bracing to make the whole set-up works.

Additional details are few and far between at this early stage, but Toyota says it intends to race the M Concept in the ST-Q class of the domestic Super Taikyu Series which allows OEMs to front non-homologated vehicles free from the production-based rules of TCR.

“The team aims to implement ‘driver-first’ car-making, in which cars are repeatedly driven to failure and then repaired in the extreme conditions of racing and in which feedback from Morizo (Akio Toyoda), professional drivers, and gentleman drivers is thoroughly incorporated,” a company spokesperson said.

While not directly referring to or promising a new-generation MR2, the GR Yaris M Concept certainly hints at the future development of a mid-ship driver’s car as there’s no way Toyota would be playing around with the concept, let alone planning to race it without plans to commercialise the idea somewhere along the line.

A company executive has already confirmed the iconic Celica would be making a comeback in one form of another, and there have been rumours of a resurgent MR2 – previous versions of which co-existed with the Celica – swirling for years now.

The centrepiece of the MR2 package is its mid-engine, rear-drive layout which made it one of the most unique mainstream sports car to date, not to mention one of the prickliest to drive when referring to the earlier versions.

Toyota’s next-generation turbocharged 2.0-litre in-line four is said to offer more power and efficiency than the current force-fed 2.4 while being 10 per cent more compact – the perfect combination for a compact mid-ship coupe or roadster.

“It drastically improves output and will serve a wide range of applications where power is required, from trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles to sports cars,” Toyota said.

The new mill will also be compatible with varying degrees of electrification hardware, teeing up an intriguing battle with the production-spec Mazda Iconic SP.