Here’s Why Toyota Builds Hardcore Performance Vehicles

It’s not exactly a secret what keeps the lights on at Toyota.

The RAV4 helped kick off the crossover craze that started three decades ago and has proliferated at a feverish pace ever since, with the brand’s compact model becoming a best-seller in its segment and beyond. In fact, if it weren’t for Canadians’ collective obsession with oversized trucks, the RAV4 would be the single top seller in the country, with the 77,556 examples moved last year outpacing its next closest non-pickup rival — the Honda CR-V, which also happens to be a small crossover — by more than 22,000 units.

For a bit of context, the RAV4 accounted for nearly a third of Toyota’s total sales in Canada in 2024, while its subcompact sibling, the Corolla Cross, continues to grow in popularity after a few years on the market. Even conventional cars like the Corolla and Camry — the ones the brand built its reputation on — remain steady sellers in spite of a general decline in popularity as more shoppers shift to crossovers.

Add it all up, and Toyota could quite contently continue to sell nothing but the basics and make a good go of it, but it doesn’t. It goes well beyond making mainstay models — and with good reason.

Not New, But Improved

In fairness, Toyota has been building specialized cars, trucks, and SUVs for decades dating back to the 1960s, when it launched the lust-worthy 2000GT. Since then, the likes of the Supra sports car and even the Tacoma pickup have become renowned in their own rights for extraordinary capabilities, whether on the street, the track, or the trail.

However, there’s been a notable shift in recent years, and Toyota’s different divisions haven’t just been dreaming up increasingly hardcore versions of the vehicles they’re responsible for — they’ve been selling them, too.

Toyota first started making TRD Pro models back in 2014, bestowing a new kind of capability upon its body-on-frame trucks and SUVs right from the factory. Building on the popularity of the TRD Pro treatment, Toyota introduced the new Trailhunter trim last year, offering overlanders  warranty-backed versions of the redesigned Tacoma and 4Runner.

It’s something of a natural evolution for Toyota, as is the expansion of its GR portfolio of performance cars. And while much of development of cars like the GR Corolla hot hatch and GR86 coupe has trickled down from the automaker’s motorsports activities, all of it needs a catalyst.

A Top-Down Initiative

“I think a lot can be said about a brand if you look to the top,” says Parker Thomas, a marketing and strategy specialist for Toyota North America who’s responsible for the brand’s GR and sports car programs.

Of course, he’s referring to Akio Toyoda, the current board chair and former top executive at the automaker founded by his grandfather nine decades ago as an offshoot of his own father’s loom-making business. Calling Akiyo a car guy “through and through,” Thomas credits his unique brand of leadership with cultivating an environment for enthusiast products to flourish.

But Parker also recognizes the challenges that come with building a wider recognition of the Gazoo Racing (GR) sub-brand — particularly in North America. That’s why Toyota is launching a GR-Sport version of the redesigned RAV4  set to launch later this year. Not only will it serve as an option for shoppers looking for a sporty take on a family-friendly vehicle, but it should help the GR name gain wider recognition among the buying public.

Smiles for Miles

“One of our target purposes is to make customers smile,” Naoyuki Sakamoto, the lead engineer behind the spectacular GR Corolla, says about why Toyota builds such specialty products. “We always want to wow the customer, so that’s why we are developing this kind of exciting vehicle.”

Sakamoto is prone to plenty of smiles himself when discussing the race-ready and road-going versions of the GR Corolla, including the latest of the bunch that features an automatic transmission. And while that’s the sort of change some purists will scoff at, Sakamoto says its development should be seen as a sign of just how good the gearbox is.

He says team drivers in rally and other GR motorsports programs spent time fine-tuning its use in those purpose-built machines to the point that they weren’t even using paddle shifters to change gears themselves. Instead, they let the transmission decide what to do and when — a testament to its prowess when pushed.

“If we can satisfy them, that’s going to be a great transmission,” Sakamoto says of the pro racers who helped put the automatic through its paces.

Final Thoughts

The transmission is an example of the symbiotic relationship between the motorsports and production programs at Toyota, with what Sakamoto calls a “driver-first” approach to vehicle development. Whether it’s in a race-prepped GR Corolla, an adventure-ready Tacoma Trailhunter, or even a Sienna packed to the ceiling with a family and its stuff, it’s all about delivering a directly connected, predictable, and reliable experience that can be counted on as much as it’s enjoyed.