Toyota reportedly bringing back Celica nameplate (2024)

If the rumour mill is right – and we think it is – we might be seeing a prototype of the revived sports car next year

Author of the article:

Jil McIntosh

Published Jun 04, 2024 • Last updated 1day ago • 2 minute read

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Rumours are flying that Toyota could bring back the Celica nameplate
But what’ll it be like? Word is it might offer 400 horsepower and all-wheel-drive
The original Celica lasted from 1970 to 2006, and we say it’s about time it returned

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Could a new Toyota Celica be on the way? That’s what the rumour mill is saying, and fans of that model are hoping it’s true. So far, Toyota has only hinted broadly at it, without any actual confirmation, but we’ll sum up what’s what with some of the gossip.

Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda – in case you’re wondering, the auto company and the founding family’s name always had that slightly different spelling – was asked back in 2023 if he thought the Celica would return. His reply was, “You’ll have to ask Toyota Motor about that. I’m not on the executive side.” And then, when asked if he might put in a request, he said, “Well, I have, but I don’t know how it will turn out.”

All of that is noted on Toyota’s official Japanese website, and our take is that the automaker wouldn’t put that up if there wasn’t something eventually coming down the pipeline.

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Toyota reportedly bringing back Celica nameplate (4)

So we’re looking at these rumours, most of which stem from articles in Best Car, a Japanese magazine, which says that – according to a Google translation – the Celica will appear as a “prototype” at the 2025 Toyota Auto Salon.

According to that publication, Toyota is looking into the “return of big names,” which includes the MR2 – it’s expected to be unveiled as a mid-engine sports car in 2025 – and the Celica.

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Toyota recently announced it is developing a new line of small, lightweight engines that can be adapted to electrification and sustainable fuels, and showed off new 1.5L and 2.0L engines. Best Car speculates the Celica could use a 1.3L three-cylinder turbo that’s based on the 1.6L in the GR Yaris, which we don’t get in Canada; and the GR Corolla, which we’re happy to say we do.

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But the article also says the Celica might instead get a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder — and if so, that could dovetail into the new engine that was just unveiled. The puzzle pieces might just be coming together.

Toyota reportedly bringing back Celica nameplate (7)

Some rumours are saying the Celica, if it does arrive, could make around 400 horsepower and drive all four wheels, using the active torque-split system found in the GR Yaris and Corolla.

The Celica was originally launched for 1970, and as Toyota puts it, it was “Japan’s first specialty coupe.” The fourth-generation model of 1985 went from rear-wheel- to front-wheel-drive; and in 1986 was released as the GT-Four with turbocharged engine and four-wheel-drive, marking the automaker’s first full-time 4WD system (the Land Cruiser preceded it with four-wheel-drive, but it was a part-time system) and successfully competing in the FIA World Rally Championship. The Celica name lasted until 2006 — and now we’re waiting to see if it will, indeed, come back again.

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Jil McIntosh

Jil McIntosh specializes in new-car reviews, auto technology and antique cars, including the two 1940s vehicles in her garage. She is currently a freelance Writer at Driving.ca since 2016

Summary

· Professional writer for more than 35 years, appearing in some of the top publications in Canada and the U.S.

· Specialties include new-vehicle reviews, old cars and automotive history, automotive news, and “How It Works” columns that explain vehicle features and technology

· Member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) since 2003; voting member for AJAC Canadian Car of the Year Awards; juror on the Women’s World Car of the Year Awards

Education

Jil McIntosh graduated from East York Collegiate in Toronto, and then continued her education at the School of Hard Knocks. Her early jobs including driving a taxi in Toronto; and warranty administration in a new-vehicle dealership, where she also held information classes for customers, explaining the inner mechanical workings of vehicles and their features.

Experience

Jil McIntosh is a freelance writer who has been writing for Driving.ca since 2016, but she’s been a professional writer starting when most cars still had carburetors. At the age of eleven, she had a story published in the defunct Toronto Telegram newspaper, for which she was paid $25; given the short length of the story and the dollar’s buying power at the time, that might have been the relatively best-paid piece she’s ever written.

An old-car enthusiast who owns a 1947 Cadillac and 1949 Studebaker truck, she began her writing career crafting stories for antique-car and hot-rod car club magazines. When the Ontario-based newspaper Old Autos started up in 1987, dedicated to the antique-car hobby, she became a columnist starting with its second issue; the newspaper is still around and she still writes for it. Not long after the Toronto Star launched its Wheels section in 1986 – the first Canadian newspaper to include an auto section – she became one of its regular writers. She started out writing feature stories, and then added “new-vehicle reviewer” to her resume in 1999. She stayed with Wheels, in print and later digital as well, until the publication made a cost-cutting decision to shed its freelance writers. She joined Driving.ca the very next day.

In addition to Driving.ca, she writes for industry-focused publications, including Automotive News Canada and Autosphere. Over the years, her automotive work also appeared in such publications as Cars & Parts, Street Rodder, Canadian Hot Rods, AutoTrader, Sharp, Taxi News, Maclean’s, The Chicago Tribune, Forbes Wheels, Canadian Driver, Sympatico Autos, and Reader’s Digest. Her non-automotive work, covering such topics as travel, food and drink, rural living, fountain pen collecting, and celebrity interviews, has appeared in publications including Harrowsmith, Where New Orleans, Pen World, The Book for Men, Rural Delivery, and Gambit.

Major awards won by the author

2016 AJAC Journalist of the Year; Car Care Canada / CAA Safety Journalism award winner in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013, runner-up in 2021; Pirelli Photography Award 2015; Environmental Journalism Award 2019; Technical Writing Award 2020; Vehicle Testing Review award 2020, runner-up in 2022; Feature Story award winner 2020; inducted into the Street Rodding Hall of Fame in 1994.

Contact info

Email: jil@ca.inter.net

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jilmcintosh/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JilMcIntosh

Toyota reportedly bringing back Celica nameplate (2024)

Jil McIntosh

Summary

Education

Experience

Major awards won by the author

Contact info

References