Japanese car giant Toyota has filed to trademark the GR Celica nameplate in Brazil, representing another step towards the return of the popular nameplate.
Toyota submitted the trademark filing to Brazil’s National Institute of Industrial Property and Ministry of Economy on January 15, with a publish date of February 4, Carscoops reports.
The trademark would allow Toyota to sell the GR Celica in South America, as well as its home market in Japan.
Toyota executive vice president Yuki Nakajima has already confirmed that a new Celica is in development, sharing the news last November.
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Seventh-generation Celica
“There are many people within the company who are eagerly awaiting the Celica. So – I’m not sure if it’s okay to say this in a public forum – but we’re doing the Celica,” Nakajima-san said in translated comments reported by Best Car Web.
At the time, the executive vice president hinted that a new Celica could arrive at some point in early 2025.
If that comes to fruition, it’ll be the first new Celica to be built in almost two decades, after production of the seventh-generation ‘T230’ ended in 2006.
The eighth-generation Celica, reported to be rebranded as the GR Celica, will likely be sold alongside the GR86 and Supra in Toyota’s performance lineup, with the cars to be differentiated primarily by body type and driveline configuration.
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Toyota GR Yaris and Celica GT-FOUR
Historically, the Celica has occupied a unique position in the Toyota lineup as a two-door, front-engine, front-wheel drive sports coupe, with flagship versions getting a hotter all-wheel drive system.
The most recent generation dropped the AWD option completely, before the model was ultimately canned in 2006 due to a slump in the Japanese sports car market that saw iconic models such as the Mazda RX-7, Toyota Supra and Nissan Silvia also disappear from showrooms.
Toyota seems set on expanding its GR performance sub-brand, with rumours of an MR2 revival also rife. References to a “MR2 Mk4” appeared in Toyota’s GRIP cartoon series, along with supposed hints to new generations of the GR86 and Supra.
Select next-generation Toyota GR models appear set to adopt a new 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, reportedly capable of producing 294kW and 550Nm.
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