The Toyota GR Corolla is a great hot hatch, but buyers have been in for a wait if they want to get one.
Since it initially launched, American buyers who want a Toyota GR Corolla have had to wait for their car to arrive from the company’s Motomachi Plant in Toyota City, Japan. Now, though, Reuters reports the automaker may shift some production output over to an underutilized plant in the UK, then ship those cars over to the U.S., according to two sources familiar with the matter.
In fact, Toyota reportedly plans to spend $56 million updating and retooling its Burnaston facility to produce as many as 10,000 GR Corollas each year by mid-2026. The plant already produces the standard Corolla hatchback, but workers building the hot version are doing so for the North American market, as the GR Corolla is not available in Britain (they get the smaller GR Yaris instead).
If the “T” word immediately popped into your head as the reasoning for the company’s decision here, Reuters’ sources say that is not why it’s happening. The move was not a reaction to new import costs, but an effort to get the high-demand model into customers’ hands faster. To wit, Toyota will still build the GR Corolla at its current Japanese plant, but those cars will go to the home market from next year onward. While the company did not put this information out in an official statement, it did tell Reuters it is “always looking for ways to optimize production”.
All that said, this report’s timing is interesting, as it comes a few weeks after the Trump administration reached an agreement on the framework of a deal with the UK that would limit import tariffs to 10% on an automaker’s first 100,000 units shipped to the U.S. Right now, imports from Japan are still subject to a 25% tariff (though the country is lobbying to have that repealed).
No matter Toyota’s motivations here, enthusiasts will certainly welcome the prospect of more GR Corollas making it into the ecosystem. Shorter wait times and not having to go cross-country or pay through the nose for your hot hatchback is nothing to scoff at. Still, we are in for a bit of a wait, as the company will reportedly need to send its Japanese engineers over to the 33-year-old UK plant to facilitate GR Corolla production without any major complications.
