Leaked: Toyota Product Timeline, Other Juicy Tidbits

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

Here’s a change of pace: something to look forward to! In this instance, it’s a bevy of Toyota products poised to spring forth after this virus thing shuffles beneath the banner of “bad memory.”

The brand that’s shown no shortage of initiative in recent years plans to continue its new product flow, this time focusing more on trucks than cars.

Instagram account Allcarnews, the source of several big-ticket product leaks in recent months, claims to have the goods on what’s to come from Toyota. Sadly, no pictures, but maybe you’re interested in hearing about the GR86?

What’s that, you ask? A second-generation 86 is on the way, and with it a new Subaru BRZ twin. Allcarnews claims the first-gen GT86 (as it’s called in Europe) will give way to the GR86, and product plans reveal the model will finally get a much-rumored addition: power. The powerplant beneath the little rear-drive coupe’s hood is said to be a turbocharged unit making 255 horses. If that sounds like Subaru’s new 2.4-liter Boxer engine, you’re bang on. “GR,” of course, signifies Toyota’s Gazoo Racing sub-brand.

Expect to see the GR86 bow in July 2021. That same year is said to bring a refresh for the stalwart Camry, still holding its own in a troubled segment on the strength of its name recognition, and a new Lexus IS. The GS sedan is apparently as good as dead, which comes as no surprise to any Toyota watcher.

Two oddball details exist in the documents, and both are unconfirmed: a Corolla-badged crossover (lifted AWD hatch?) due next year, and the return of the crossover-like Venza. Remember the Venza? It’s not an unpleasant memory. How a similar model would fit into the present lineup, however, is unclear. In the past, Toyota has expressed interest in the idea of fielding two models in the same segment — so long as that segment sells.

As for trucks, the high-flying Tacoma will apparently see a new iteration for 2024, but not before the bulk of Toyota’s truck lineup undergo its own revamp.

The ancient, full-size Tundra, widely expected to undergo radical changes within the next 12 months, will be all-new for the 2021 model year. Gone is the model’s standard V8 power, replaced with a sole twin-turbocharged hybrid V6. This is in line with what we’ve been hearing for months. The plans supposedly say the truck will ride atop a version of Toyota’s TNGA architecture, this one carrying the moniker TNGA-F.

We await rear suspension details…

From that platform, a new Sequoia, 4Runner, and Lexus LX will allegedly spring forth in 2022, with the latter model bringing extra plushness and power to the table. Again, we’ve seen evidence of this. In 2023, Lexus’ volume-leading RX crossover and older-than-Bob Dole GX SUV are said to undergo full revamps; in the case of the latter model, it’s long past due.

Elsewhere in the automaker’s stable, the surprisingly strong-selling NX crossover will receive a new platform and probably a little extra bulk in the near future. The LS and ES sedans will see a styling refresh for 2022, and the second-generation Toyota Mirai will also don a Lexus badge, forming a replacement for the outgoing GX. That’s a head scratcher, as the Mirai is a low-volume hydrogen fuel cell vehicle sold in California. If Toyota can outfit it with a conventional electric motor/battery pack combo, there could be some usefulness to the idea.

Once again, these details are all unconfirmed. One hopes this deluge of details put your mind at rest for just a brief moment.

[Images: Toyota]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Piratethecat Piratethecat on Mar 27, 2020

    Should I feel sad about the demise of the GS? I think they are head turners (especially in F-Sport guise in the generation before the current one) but never hear much about them.

  • Carmaker1 Carmaker1 on Mar 28, 2020

    Being the source of this information myself as the so-called Motor1 insider and seeing the number of mistakes being spread across the web, in terms of launch dates and MOST specifically the Lexus GS/Mirai claim, I signed up to clear it all up ASAP. I don't understand why this site would rely on some Instawhore clickbait page, who copied information that originated from Motor1 in February. Too many sites are trusting All Crap News and it has become a horrible rumor Mill. A number of the dates have been taken out of context by this idiot, as well as Motor1 the primary source of it. I am an automotive engineer who used to work for Jaguar Land Rover in Coventry, England, currently working for another automaker and have a lot of other industry contacts. Using 3 of those industry wide contacts, I collected information on a number of future model programs and chose to provide it to Motor1 privately. What I have been seeing is other media entities copy from those articles in February and at least give credit in most cases to Motor1. I do see on occasion what I did provide being taken out of context and dates screwed up. What has happened here with this johnny-come-lately is that they have screwed up so much of the text and made their own extrapolations, using my information and anonymity, to be some magical high placed "insider", to give their story credibility. Basically making claims on whoever I am, to make it sound like I drink saké with Akio Toyoda. They piggybacked off of one of 3 slides for future models, unauthorized from being publicized to give themselves further credibility. There is no new E segment RWD offering coming to the Lexus brand, so this report is false. Not the whole report, but ANY part of it that differs from the Motor1 story in February. Per a contact, who had very deep knowledge on a 2019 TOYOTA dealer conference in the early autumn of 2019, the 2021 Toyota Mirai was revealed to attendees and it was eventually explained to them, that this was the 2020 GS, upon being questioned and murmurs about "why wasn't this a Lexus"? That is because the 300B development program was suspended indefinitely around October 2016, as it was due for design freeze completion ahead of planned Job 1 in April 2019. By 2017 all remnants of the program were quietly shifted into the Mirai effort, now for model year 2021. The redesign of the existing Mirai into this vehicle was rather abrupt considering it had a very short life cycle. If you compare early 2016 renderings of the upcoming GS redesign to a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2017 called LS+ and then to this Mirai, the hardpoints fore of the A pillar are totally identical an all 3 examples. The final design for the GS 300B program was decided on in the first half of 2016 which is where the rendering came from. It was supposed to be locked in during October 2016. LS+ is nearly identical and was shown as a preview of future Lexus sedans, particularly the aborted 2020 GS. The theory that Lexus is going to introduce a rebadge of the Mirai is a bunch of nonsense drummed up by a fool who took Motor1's story out of context. If that was ever planned, the Mirai itself would not exist under a Toyota badge as a RWD offering, when elevation of Lexus is supposed to be a goal one. GS production ends later this year and it will not be replaced in that segment, outside of FWD ES being upgraded. I wish people would be very careful about who they trust as a source because of Motor1 is a professional entity that NEVER said this. All Crap News is full of it and did not appreciate being called out on their plagiarist, erroneous report. Typical of Engrish spambot pages.

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