Toyota Raced the Next MR2 in Public. It Is Not the Car You Think.

Toyota entered two experimental cars in this weekend’s Super Taikyu round at Okayama, and one of them is almost certainly the next MR2: a mid-engine coupe with Toyota’s new G20E 2.0-liter turbo four mounted behind the driver. Meanwhile a third Toyota prototype is testing on rally stages in Portugal, and the internet keeps mashing all three into one car. They are not one car. Untangling them is the whole story.

What is the Toyota mid-engine coupe at Super Taikyu

It is a development mule for a production mid-engine sports car, racing in public. It started life as the GR Yaris M concept from the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon, and the Okayama car is a substantially revised version: lower, coupe-bodied, better aero, lower center of gravity. GR Team ORC Field ran it in the experimental ST-Q class at Round 6, October 23 to 25, at Okayama International Circuit.

Is this the new Toyota MR2?

Toyota has not said the name. Here is what the car says instead. The engine is behind the driver. There is an M badge on the rear. Reporting puts the road car’s target at more than 400 horsepower, with production likely a couple of years out. None of that is confirmed by Toyota, and the car itself is clearly a mule, not a design preview: it still wears GR Yaris headlights and taillights, and the boxy fender extensions look like they exist to house cooling, not to preview bodywork. But a mid-engine Toyota coupe with an M badge is not subtle. Draw your own conclusion.

Is this the Toyota Celica rally car?

No. That is a different project, and the two keep getting conflated. Here is the split.

	Mid-engine coupe	WRC 2027 prototype
Engine	G20E 2.0 turbo four	1.6 turbo three
Position	Behind the driver	Not disclosed
Power	Road target 400+ hp, reported	Capped around 290 hp
Chassis	Development mule	Spaceframe, no production basis
Drivetrain	AWD possible, unconfirmed	AWD, standardized 5-speed
Where	Okayama circuit, ST-Q	Portugal rally testing
Likely name	MR2	Celica

The Portugal car is Toyota’s challenger for the 2027 World Rally Championship, the replacement for the GR Yaris Rally1. Under the FIA’s 2027 rules it does not need a production basis at all, so it is a body shell on a spaceframe. Technical director Tom Fowler confirmed the prototype has more than 2,000 km of testing done and declined to name it. The compact two-door shape has everyone saying Celica, and a road-going GR Celica is expected to run a turbo 2.0 four with an evolved GR-Four system, but a rally spaceframe matching a road car closely is unlikely. Two projects. Two cars. Stop conflating them.

What happened to the GR86 Future FR concept?

The quieter news at Okayama. Last season the #32 ran a modified 1.6-liter turbo three. This weekend it showed up with a developmental 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four, around 200 PS according to a team mechanic, with vehicle weight reportedly barely changed. Conventional wet sump, fairly flat oil pan, carbon undercover. The mechanic’s take: without turbo lag, cornering response may be sharper. On the engine itself: “still under development, so it’s a secret.” A new NA four developed for an affordable FR coupe is exactly the kind of thing worth watching. A 2.0 four in an attainable enthusiast car is a formula that still works. Ask the WRX.

What is Super Taikyu’s ST-Q class?

ST-Q is Super Taikyu’s class for experimental vehicles, where Toyota and four other automakers develop technology toward carbon neutrality in actual competition. Toyota’s track record there is real. In 2023 its liquid hydrogen GR Corolla became the first vehicle in the world to run liquid hydrogen through a direct-injection engine, and the program has run the Fuji 24 Hours ever since, alongside the GR86 concept on low-carbon E20 fuel.

The MoneyShift Take

There are two ways to develop a sports car. One is to test in private for a decade, stage a demo, and tell everyone 2028, trust us bro. The other is to enter your half-finished mule in an endurance race series, in public, with your competitors watching, and let it break where everyone can see. Toyota picked the second way, and it is why the eventual MR2 will show up finished. Enthusiasts keep getting told the manual, the coupe, and the affordable sports car are dead. Meanwhile half of M2 buyers pick the stick, and Toyota is racing an MR2 mule in public. The patient is fine.

FAQ

Is the Toyota MR2 coming back?
Toyota has not confirmed the name, but it is racing a mid-engine development mule with an M badge, and reporting puts production a couple of years out.

How much power will the new MR2 have?
Reports target more than 400 horsepower for the road car from the G20E 2.0 turbo four. Toyota has confirmed nothing.

Is the mid-engine Toyota the new Celica?
No. The Celica speculation belongs to a separate WRC 2027 rally prototype testing in Portugal, a spaceframe car with no production basis.

What engine does the Toyota mid-engine coupe have?
The G20E, Toyota’s new turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, mounted behind the driver.

I’m MoneyShift. If it has wheels and a story, it ends up here. Follow along for all things car news.