The new Toyota GR86 is due to arrive in local showrooms in November 2022!

It’s been a decade since Toyota welcomed its then-called 86 sportscar in South Africa. At the time, the 86 was an important product for Toyota as it embodied the firm’s intention to deliver an exciting, lightweight, rear-wheel-drive sports car to customers at an affordable price point.

For the most part, the Toyota 86 delivered on its promise, thanks in part to the Toyota-Subaru partnership, which concurrently spawned the Subaru BRZ. However, the 86 was a niche offering in a world where consumers were rapidly being swept away in the crossover/SUV tide and it consequently didn’t quite sell as well as Toyota had hoped. Nonetheless, the 86 was proof that Toyota could produce fun-to-drive cars. This was later further highlighted with the arrival of the Yaris GRMN, GR Supra and more recently, the highly-praised GR Yaris and forthcoming GR Corolla.

Toyota’s sportscar formula has been refined with the incoming GR86.

A facelifted 86 arrived in 2017 but its naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre petrol engine with 147 kW and 205 Nm was widely criticised for lacking outright punch to properly exploit the 86’s capable chassis.

While rumours swirled that Toyota would install a turbocharged engine for the second-generation model, this wasn’t the case and the Japanese firm instead opted for a larger-capacity 2.4-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine with improved outputs of 173 kW and 250 Nm, the latter of which now arriving earlier in the rev range from 3 700 rpm (previously 6 600 rpm). A 6-speed manual or automatic transmission will be available to customers of the new Toyota GR86. With increased outputs, we expect the GR86 to offer higher levels of driving engagement than its predecessor while also offering a greatly improved cabin environment.

More recent rumours suggest that the next third-generation GR86 will receive the turbocharged 1.6-litre, 3-cylinder engine that powers the GR Yaris with 198 kW and 360 Nm or Toyota might even incorporate an electric motor to help boost outputs and performance even further. A hybrid powertrain is a real possibility considering that Toyota’s hybrid technology is flourishing.

Demand for electric and hybrid products is increasing in South Africa and Toyota’s recent flurry of new hybrid products such as the locally-made Corolla Cross Hybrid, Corolla Hybrid and RAV4 Hybrid are ideally positioned to service the growing demand for new energy vehicles.

An all-new second-generation Toyota GR86 is launching in South Africa in November 2022 and we will be driving it, so be sure to look out for more details soon!

Buy a Toyota 86 on Cars.co.za

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