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Bruce Newton12 Nov 2018
NEWS

New Toyota RAV4 may get GAZOO treatment

Toyota’s next mid-size SUV could spawn hot GR model. But would it be an off-roader or an on-roader?

Toyota’s new hot-tuner brand GAZOO Racing has started an initial investigation into developing a GR-badged, high-performance version of the new Toyota RAV4.

But whether a tougher off-roader or a hotter road vehicle is developed out of the new fifth-generation mid-size soft-roader is not clear.

In fact, while he was prepared to confirm conversations with GAZOO Racing, RAV4 chief engineer Yoshikazu Saeki insisted he did not know whether they would come to anything.

“Yes, we have talked, but any kind of final determination — even if it is a potential viable business proposition — I have no idea what they took out of it,” he told motoring.com.au at last week’s global first drive of the new Toyota RAV4.

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You can read our first drive review of the new RAV on November 20, before it reaches Australian showrooms next April.

Saeki explained the new Toyota RAV4 had broken with previous model structure and been developed in three distinct streams; mainstream on-road, sports on-road and off-road oriented.

That split could affect which way — if any — GAZOO Racing opts to head with a more highly tuned RAV4. It’s a direction Saeki says he would be consulted on, but it would not be his decision to make.

“GR right now is its own separate company and the reality of that is it’s something out of my range,” Saeki said.

“Do you want to go sporty or do you want to go off-road? They would ask me stuff like that.

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“But in the end, it’s GR company that’s going to take that back and say, ‘this is going to be doing, this is the business potential that comes out of it’.

“No matter how much I say, what I recommend, if it’s not good as a business proposal GR will say they can’t do that.”

GAZOO Racing was established by Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan in April 2015 as the unifying brand for all its motorsport activities.

In 2017, GAZOO harnessed that experience gained through motorsport and added the GR product brand to develop sports cars and components for special-edition models.

In Australia Toyota has confirmed a two-car Australian Rally Championship entry in 2019 under the Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia banner.

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GR will belatedly replace the TRD sub-brand in Australia for performance on-road models.

It is expected to debut here with the new Toyota Supra sports car that launches in the second half of 2019.

The GR badge has already been applied to several models in Japan -- a limited-edition GRMN Yaris in Europe and a HiLux GR Sports for Brazil. ‘MN’ stands for ‘Meisters of the Nurburgring and is applied to the highest tunes.

The new RAV4 is based on the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) already used by the latest Camry, Corolla, Prius and the C-HR.

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