In a recent interview with Automotive News, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda expressed his preference for petrol engines in sports cars, despite the growing push for electric vehicles (EVs) within the company. Toyoda acknowledged the ongoing interest in electric sports cars at Toyota but emphasized his personal connection to the traditional petrol-powered sports car.
“There will always be people inside Toyota passionate about developing electric sports cars,” Toyoda said. “But for me, as the master driver, my definition of a sports car is something with the smell of gasoline and a noisy engine.”
Toyoda, a long-time supporter of internal combustion engines, has advocated for their use in both everyday vehicles and high-performance cars. His comments align with speculations about Toyota’s plans to bring back iconic models like the Celica and MR2, potentially adding them to the company’s expanding lineup of Gazoo Racing sports cars.
Although reports from late 2023 suggested that these models might feature an electric platform, Toyota hinted otherwise at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January. There, the company unveiled the GR Yaris ‘M Concept’, powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine. This confirmed that the revived MR2 could feature the same engine, supporting earlier reports that both the mid-engined MR2 and a potential front-engined Celica could be powered by this turbocharged engine.
Toyoda’s reluctance to embrace electric sports cars might not come as a surprise, especially given his stance on EV racing. When asked if he would ever compete in an EV racing series, Toyoda made it clear that the lack of excitement in battery-powered vehicles kept him away from the track.
“No! It’s not exciting, because you won’t be able to go around the circuit for more than an hour,” he said. “The kind of races I enter are mostly endurance races, so with the current BEVs (battery-electric vehicles), it’s not going to be a race of the cars. It’s a race of charging time or battery exchange or something. The next master driver will have to take on that challenge. That’s their job.”
Despite his hesitation towards EV racing, Toyoda has supported alternative fuels, including hydrogen. Toyota has been investing in hydrogen technology, using it in liquid form as an alternative to petrol. The company has even raced prototypes of its GR Corolla and GR Yaris in low-volume racing series, running on hydrogen instead of traditional petrol.
