Toyota Performance Brand to Rival Mercedes-AMG Under Consideration

Toyota Yaris WRC

Toyota performance brand is expected to make tuned cars equivalent to potential of BMW M division and Mercedes AMG

According to a report emerged on Autocar, Toyota, a leading car maker in the world, is considering a new performance sub-brand to compete against the likes of Mercedes AMG and BMW’s M division. Toyota, being a volume depending automaker, already has the Lexus luxury brand that makes products to rival the German trio of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz along with Jaguar Land Rover and others.

While bookings for the Lexus brand stepping into India early next year has begun, speculations over a new performance division brings an array of interest to not just Toyota loyalist but for the Lexus enthusiasts as well. Toyota’s Motorsport GmbH is widely-known and has one of the largest windtunnel testing facilities in its Cologne base.

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Currently, Gazzo Racing is responsible for the Japanese company’s two important factory assaults in motor racing: the World Endurance Championship and re-entry after more than a decade next year into World Rally Championship. Besides that, Gazzo Racing has tuned Toyota cars for the Japanese market.

GRMN (Gazoo Racing Masters of Nürburgring) and G Sports are the badges under which Gazoo makes the performance derivatives of regular models in limited numbers thus far. Toyota indeed develops special edition versions of its own under TRD (Toyota Racing Development) sub-brand presently but the new performance arm is going to be all different.

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Head of Gazoo Racing and Toyota’s powertrain department, Koei Saga, told that he is intended to expand the presence of Gazoo beyond its existing capabilities. On a bigger picture, he wants to make an impact beyond the Japanese market and thereby extend Gazoo’s wings as a fully grown performance brand.

He is aware of the challenges of such a tuning outfit in the highly competitive European markets and stated that he is working to “have a brand like the M brand.” Gazoo introduced a GT86 GRMN recently with host of powertrain, aerodynamic and mechanical changes for Japan.

Source: Autocaruk