Toyota’s Gazoo Racing Says Petrol Engines And Manual Transmissions To Remain

As Toyota continues its electrification push, there’s good news for enthusiasts. The Gazoo Racing (GR) family isn’t abandoning petrol engines or manual transmissions anytime soon.

“Internal combustion engines and manual transmissions will be around for a long, long time,” says Sean Henley, CEO of Toyota Australia, speaking to CarSales.

Over the past few years, cars like the GR Supra, GR Yaris, GR Corolla, and GR 86 have continued to make their mark on the enthusiast community. The trend looks set to continue, at least for the foreseeable future, with petrol engines and manual transmissions remaining a key part of the GR strategy.

Henley made it clear that the GR is on its way. “Even as we move towards electrification, there is still room to satisfy sports car enthusiasts, and these enthusiasts are not a dying breed,” he said.

“While we focus on future electrification for the rest of our model line, we plan to retain the GR’s sounds, smells, and feel of the internal combustion engine—the one we all love so much.”

Henley was not dogmatic about Toyota’s approach to performance cars. He made it clear that the Japanese automaker could, theoretically, offer a hydrogen-powered sports car in the future.

Even if the company eventually ventures into electric sports cars, it plans to maintain the core values ​​that make GR cars so appealing: raw performance and real driving engagement. Henley stressed that the GR brand will continue to serve “every car enthusiast and performance lover” with future offerings.

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