Toyota Australia has secured around 1100 units of the new GR86 coupe for the first 12 months of sales – which is unlikely to come close to matching demand if history is any kind of guide.
Due to launch in September, the second generation of Toyota’s rear-drive, naturally aspirated sports car will – like basically every other Toyota right now – therefore become subject to wait lists.
“We have secured a stock of about 1100 cars for the first 12 months. And as with all GR performance cars, we expect demand will outstrip supply,” Toyota Australia vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations Sean Hanley said this week.
To contextualise this, the old (non GR-badged) 86’s record year of sales was 6706 units in 2013, about six-times what the initial allocation will be this time around.
“I expect [for] year two that will increase,” Mr Hanley added, clarifying that by the first 12 months he meant September 2022 to September 2023.
When we asked Mr Hanley if he’d consider a new sales approach just for the GR86 to streamline the situation for punters – perhaps a fixed-price online sales tactic rather than wholesaling into dealers? – he said a very firm no.
The problem isn’t limited to Toyota.
The first Australian allocation of the Subaru BRZ twin in September last year was limited to just 500 cars, all of which sold out within three months, before orders re-opened in May this year with accompanying price hikes.
The GR86 is not the only member of Toyota’s performance range affected in such a way: The sellout-success GR Yaris rally special has been off sale since July 2021, and as of last week that status remained.
All GR86 variants are powered by a 2.4-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine developing 174kW of power at 7000rpm and 250Nm of torque at 3700rpm.
Drive to the rear wheels is via either a six-speed manual or automatic transmission, with the standard fitment of a Torsen limited-slip differential on the rear axle.
You can catch up on the promised features list across the GR86 GT and GTS grades here, while pricing is expected to be announced closer to the market launch during September.
It’s safe to say the prices won’t be as remarkably low as the original 86’s $29,990 opening gambit in 2012, or the subsidised GR Yaris’ limited-time $39,990 entry point – for fairly obvious reasons.
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