Did you know that Toyota offers four different levels of Gazoo Racing products? Yes, they’re all branded as Gazoo Racing, but on the ladder of tuning extremity, which ones are mild – and which ones are wild?
You probably know by now that Gazoo Racing is to Toyota what AMG is to Mercedes and M to BMW.
You’ll also know that AMG Line- or M Sport-labelled products are lightyears removed from their properly hardcore AMG and M brethren. And so it is too, with Toyota Gazoo Racing, that offers not just two, but four – different levels of tuning, all labelled as GR.
Related: Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux DKR T1+ technical specs detailed for 2022
Of these, Toyota South Africa currently offers two grades of Gazoo Racing models. But what about the rest of the range, and just where do the Corolla Cross, Hilux GR-S or GR Supra fit in on the seemingly puzzling pyramid of performance?
At the base sits GR Parts – essentially bolt-on cosmetic parts suited to both interior and exterior upgrades that are Toyota-approved but do not offer any performance benefit. This sub-category is currently under evaluation for the South African market.
Next up is the GR-Sport sub-grouping. As a gateway to the harder-edged GR products, this lifestyle range is where the Corolla and Hilux GR-S fit in – as vehicles bearing some visual upgrades and minor tweaks to the running gear but no improvement in engine performance as opposed to their model range siblings.
Now we’re getting serious. The GR86, GR Supra and GR Yaris are production sports cars that have benefited from purpose-built design and manufacturing to the end of delivering high-performance driving pleasure to its driver.
At the top, GRMN is the holy grail of ultra-high-performance Toyotas. The MN bit stands for “Meister of the Nürburgring” and refers to fully-tuned, limited-run specials. In the case of the white-hot JDM-only GRMN Yaris, featuring a stripped-out interior, roll cage and Recaro racing seats, only 500 were produced and sold in Japan early in 2022 – with interested customers only able to qualify by a lottery: guaranteed future classics.
