Toyota President Sato Wants To Revive The Celica: Report

Toyota’s global portfolio currently includes two great sports coupes – the Supra and GR86, but enthusiasts have long asked for a revival of the Celica to sit in between the two. The company hasn’t said anything official yet but apparently, a high-ranked executive recently admitted a modern successor for the sports car would be a good idea.

Best Car Web reports Toyota’s new president Tsuneji Sato recently spoke in front of media representatives during a rally event in Japan. Before that, the company’s new chairman Akio Toyoda reportedly expressed his passion for the Celica, to which Sato added that he would love to see a revived Celica in the lineup. But this isn’t the best part.

Gallery: Toyota Celica Exclusive

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Best Car Web decided to contact Toyota and ask for further clarification. The automaker reportedly responded with the following short statement: “The new president of Lexus and the GR company, Sato, has the intention of continuing to release GR sports models.” We’ve also contacted Toyota for a comment and we are awaiting a reply.

In addition, the Japanese publication also claims “a person familiar with Toyota’s internal affairs” said it is highly possible that the successor to the Celica will be launched as the first project under the new president. Honestly, this sounds too good to be true and for now, we are taking this information with a grain of salt until we hear back from the Japanese firm.

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The new report also goes on to speculate on the nature of the Celica’s revival saying it would make sense for Toyota to build a new electric sports car. This is obviously just an assumption based on the fact that several historical nameplates from different automakers have already been revived as battery-powered models.

This isn’t the first time we hear a high-ranked Toyota manager talk about a potential Celica comeback. Back in 2018, for example, Masayuki Kai, the Supra's Assistant Chief Engineer, told Car and Driver "we want to have Celica back, we want to have the MR2 back."

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