Toyota Says It 'Needs' a Performance SUV

We're surprised it took Toyota so long to think of a GR-branded SUV.

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport

Adrian Padeanu

By: Adrian Padeanu

May 21, 2024 at 2:36am ET

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Raise your hand if you saw this coming. Toyota is considering a potent SUV for its growing Gazoo Racing lineup of performance vehicles. The GR Sport visual treatment has already been applied to multiple products, but a full-fledged high-riding performance model isn't in dealerships. Well, not yet. That's likely to change in the future.

Speaking with Australian magazine Car Expert, GR boss Tomoya Takahashi argued an SUV is a necessity: "In the future, from my point of view, we need a GR SUV. Some people can only use SUVs because they have a family or need space. To expand our brand, maybe an SUV is needed."

He declined to go into details about which model could get the GR treatment. However, it would be one of the larger SUVs since the Yaris Cross and C-HR aren't all that spacious. We'd also rule out the bZ4X. Our money is on the Land Cruiser, be it the LC 250 / Prado we get in the United States and/or the big-boy LC300 (pictured here) sold in select markets. Perhaps a GR RAV4 would also make sense to sit above the 302-horsepower Prime with its 0-60 mph in just 5.7 seconds.

Takahashi mentioned that Gazoo Racing needs to identify the right model for a future expansion of the portfolio since its resources are limited. It can't launch multiple products in a short time due to budget restraints. For the time being, the Yaris, Corolla, 86, and Supra are offered in full-fat GR guise. Only the supermini has spawned a hotter GRMN derivative, which is also planned for the BMW-esque coupe.

Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport

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We're a bit surprised it took Toyota so long to realize a lifted GR would make sense. Mainstream automakers have been selling amped-up iterations of their SUV for years. A relevant example is Volkswagen with its T-Roc R, Tiguan R, and Touareg R, while Hyundai and Kia have the Ioniq 5 N and EV6 GT, respectively.

Whether the GR branding has become desirable enough to warrant the premium a beefier SUV would command, customers will have to decide with their hard-earned money.

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Source: Car Expert

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