Toyota Will Apparently Offer A High-Performance Version of Each of Its Models

TopSpeed

By Jonathan Lopez

Published Feb 25, 2019

More excitement is always appreciated, but is this overreaching?

Toyota is well established as offering great reliability, lots of standard safety tech, and impressive fuel mileage. However, as the largest automaker in the world, you’d also expect a good number of performance models in the lineup, and while the T badge has been working to broaden its speed-oriented offerings over the past few years, pickings are still relatively slim. However, that could very well change in the near future, as hinted by a recent Toyota tweet.

Making A Faster Toyota

This latest bit of speculation stems from a recent post made to the Toyota of Great Britain Twitter account, which was made in response to a fan’s post asking about a GRMN version of the Toyota Hilux pickup truck.

“There are plans in the pipeline to introduce high-performance variants of all models in the future,” the post reads. “Watch this space!”

For example, last November we learned of the automaker’s plans to apply the TRD gloss and all-wheel drive drivetrains across the entirety of its lineup.

For those of you who may be unaware, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) is the brand’s in-house performance division, offering a number of go-faster parts to interested customers. Meanwhile, GR (Gazoo Racing) usually handles the motorsport duties.

There are a few obvious applications for Toyota’s patented go-faster sauce, such as the Toyota 86 and Toyota Supra, with the former gaining TRD appointment at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show, and the latter gaining GR appointment at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show.

(As an aside, Toyota already offers a Prius TRD in Japan, adding in a more aero-efficient body kit to milk even more mpg from the hypermiler.)

Then there are more “middle-of-the-road” approaches, such as the Camry TRD and Avalon TRD, both which arrived earlier this year with new suspension bits, an extra-aggressive interior and exterior aesthetic, and the top-trim engine package as well. Output levels, however, remained static.

What Does “High-Performance” Mean To You?

These days, it seems like just about everyone is offering some kind of “tuned” iteration of everyday models, either as a special edition, or as a standard trim level.

However, we think the term has been watered down quite a bit. To us, high-performance means much more than a few subtle body mods and red contrast stitching in the cabin.

Something to make the car a true joy behind the wheel, not just some poseur in plus-sized wheels.

We even think the high-performance stuff would work well with trucks and SUVs, just so long as they gain modifications to help ‘em better handle some off-roading adventures.

What’s more, it’s worth noting that just because there are “plans” to introduce high-performance variants across the lineup doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen. We’ll see where Toyota goes with this.

That all said, what do you wanna see? What does high-performance mean to you? Let us know in the comments section below.