First came the Supra’s resurrection, and now the Celica is also getting a new lease on life.
The rumors have been circulating for nearly two decades, since the seventh-generation Toyota Celica went out of production in 2006. Now, though, we have it straight from the mouth of executive vice president Yuki Nakajima, who confirmed a new model is coming at an event in conjunction with Rally Japan (as reported by Japanese outlet Best Car).
In fact, Nakajima gave that confirmation in response to a question from Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda, who playfully dodged the question himself and tossed to the fellow executive.
“To be honest, there is no sign of it right now,” Nakajima responded. “However, 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!” Toyoda then guided the conversation further with a follow-up question: “Is everything okay? There are a lot of difficulties. Best Car wrote that Toyota is making the Celica, but you shouldn’t believe that.” Nakajima then replied, “They haven’t said when it will be released, so it could be next year.” (All the quotes from Best Car’s article are translations from Japanese).
Is this misdirection…or is a new Toyota Celica actually coming?
On the whole, it is indeed rare that company executives make these revelations entirely out of the blue. The company’s recent renaissance with more fun and interesting cars like the fifth-generation Supra, the latest GR 86 and GR Corolla on its own is a good sign that a new Celica would fit into brand’s new product mix. Let’s not forget, the automaker is also supposedly working on a follow-up to the MR2 as well, which also went out of production in the 2000s.
Could there be some smoke and mirrors here? It’s always possible, though with a new Honda Prelude on the way and something of a rotary revival from Mazda, this could also be just the right time for Toyota to jump in with a new, eighth-generation Celica.
New rumors peg the Toyota Celica for a reveal sometime in 2025, at least in concept form. It’s a huge question mark at the moment what will power a new model, though Toyota is working on updated 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter powertrains with Mazda and Subaru, which the automakers confirmed earlier this summer. These new engines will result in “signature” powertrains for each of the three companies — inline-four piston engines for Toyota, a boxer layout for Subaru and a rotary powerplant for Mazda — and the approach is to be compatible with alternative fuels and electrification.
Until we actually see a concept in the sheet metal, though, it’s still (frustratingly) a guessing game as to when, or if, Toyota will actually follow through on a next-generation Celica. Fingers crossed that it will, and that we’ll see it as early as the Tokyo Auto Salon in January. This new model may ultimately launch alongside a next-generation GR 86.
Before its current hiatus, Toyota built the Celica across seven generations between 1970 and 2006, with examples shown below:
