This year, along with Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd., TGR is exhibiting at Makuhari Messe’s North Hall. TGR’s booth will include the “LAND CRUISER BASE” display for promoting the fun of customizing the Toyota Land Cruiser, hitherto put on by Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. This coming together by members of the Toyota Group aims to boost excitement at Tokyo Auto Salon 2025.

During the event’s three days, TGR plans to hold talk sessions featuring drivers, engineers, and others, as well as outdoor vehicle demo runs. Detailed information on the talk sessions, the demo runs, exhibited vehicles, and others can be found on the following special website.

URL: https://toyotagazooracing.com/eventexhibition/tokyoautosalon/

Main vehicles and other exhibited items at Tokyo Auto Salon 2025

▼Shaded items indicate items detailed in this press release.

■ Tokyo Auto Salon 2025 vehicles and other exhibited items

1.     GR YARIS (NÜR 24h)

 From 2025, TGR and ROOKIE Racing intend to compete in the  Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie（NLS） and the Super Taikyu Series as a united “TOYOTA GAZOO ROOKIE Racing (TGRR)”. The new team plans to mark Toyota’s return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race after a six-year hiatus, entering with the evolved GR Yaris, which made its world debut at Tokyo Auto Salon 2024 and is equipped with the newly developed GAZOO Racing Direct Automatic Transmission. In 2024, numerous drivers, including Morizo and professional drivers, worked to prepare their Nürburgring entry vehicle by test-driving the GR Yaris on various roads both in Japan and abroad, including those of the Nürburgring circuit. The team seeks to hone its people and cars at the Nürburgring, the starting place of Morizo ​​and TGR.

2.　GR YARIS M Concept

To further explore the potential of the GR Yaris, TGRR plans to compete in the Super Taikyu Series in the GR YARIS M Concept, which features an underdevelopment, midship-mounted, 2.0-liter, inline 4-cylinder, turbocharged engine. The team aims to implement “driver-first” carmaking, in which cars are repeatedly driven to failure and then repaired in the extreme conditions of racing and in which feedback from Morizo, professional drivers, and gentleman drivers is thoroughly incorporated.

3.     GR YARIS Aero Package (prototype)

The GR YARIS Aero Package is a concept vehicle equipped with performance aerodynamic parts that have been developed together with professional drivers through an uncompromising approach to achieving targeted performance by addressing every single issue encountered during racing and circuit evaluations. The vehicle features six such parts, including a variable rear wing with a situation-responsive adjustable angle, and not only pursues enhanced aerodynamic performance and handling stability but also exerts an eye-catching presence in terms of styling. It also has a vertical handbrake, which is available as a popular factory-installed option for the RC trim level of the evolved GR Yaris released last year.

4.     GR86 software upgrades

Since its launch in 2021, the GR86 has been well-received by many customers as a car with the unique driving feel of a GR vehicle. Its partial upgrade in 2024 reflects learnings from various motorsports in which the GR86 continues to compete. Based on feedback from professional drivers who hone cars in the extreme environment of racing, the throttle characteristics were modified (in manual transmission vehicles) and the engine-speed tolerance range during downshifting was expanded (in automatic transmission vehicles) to improve acceleration response and enable quicker downshifts, resulting in the further refinement of the unique driving feel of a GR vehicle. To enable pre-upgrade GR86 owners to experience this evolved driving performance, software upgrades “GR86 PERFORMANCE SOFTWARE for MT” / “GR86 PERFORMANCE SOFTWARE for AT” are to be sold^*2 through GR Garage locations from the spring of 2025. So that those who continue to drive the GR86 can enjoy it for many years to come, TGR intends to continue supporting the evolution of its customers’ beloved cars.

Software upgrade details

Manual transmission vehicles

Engine torque control has been modified for easier blipping, which is often required in motorsports. Also, throttle control has been adopted to obtain a more direct response to accelerator operation, improving ease of handling at the upper limits of performance.

Automatic transmission vehicles

Responding to requests from customers who participate in motorsports with automatic transmission vehicles, the engine-speed tolerance range during downshifting has been expanded, enabling sporty driving supported by a wider torque band.

5.     Circuit Mode

Circuit Mode is a service that enables functions that bring out a car’s potential, such as by adding anti-lag control and raising the speed limit of the speed limiter, at service-eligible circuits and facilities in Japan. GPS location determination and operation using a dedicated app switches the vehicle’s instrument panel to a dedicated gauge display that intuitively shows shift timing and engine rpms, enabling the use of Circuit Mode.

In response to customer requests since the service’s launch on August 21, 2024, to be able to enjoy Circuit Mode in a variety of motorsports, the number of eligible circuits and facilities was increased today from the hitherto 50 to 77, centering on facilities where gymkhana and dirt trials can be enjoyed.

For details on eligible circuits and facilities, available features, etc., please see the following:

https://toyotagazooracing.com/jp/gr/circuit_mode/ (in Japanese)

6.     GR Parts

TGR strives to quickly provide its customers with parts that leverage knowledge gained through racing. Sales of the following items for various vehicle models are to start in succession.

▼For the GR Yaris

▼For the GR86

NOTE: Some parts might be subject to long delivery times due to limited availability. Details will be announced at the time of each sales launch.

For the latest information on GR parts, please see the following:

https://toyotagazooracing.com/jp/gr/grparts/ (in Japanese)

7.     GR Heritage Parts

The GR Heritage Parts Project is an initiative to reissue discontinued service parts and sell them anew as genuine parts to meet customers’ desires to keep on driving their beloved cars full of memories. In 2025, TGR plans to release 25 items for seven models, including the 70/80 Supra, AE86, and Land Cruiser 40, some of which will be exhibited at Tokyo Auto Salon 2025.

Also, TGR is reprinting for sale long-requested, nostalgia-inducing brochures of Heritage Parts vehicle models and other classic cars. The brochures can be purchased at Tokyo Auto Salon 2025 and through the online TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rakuten Ichiba store^*3.

For details, please see the following:

https://toyotagazooracing.com/gr/heritage/

8.     LAND CRUISER BASE

The Land Cruiser—a vehicle that allows people to go anywhere and everywhere and return safely—has been nurtured and honed by Toyota customers around the world for more than 70 years. Desiring to have customers long-lastingly enjoy using their Land Cruisers with a sense of security, the Land Cruiser specialty store LAND CRUISER BASE will be reborn on February 1, 2025, with Toyota Motor Corporation serving as its main business entity.

Working together with colleagues such as Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd., which has thus far been the store’s main business entity, and other related companies that support the Land Cruiser, Toyota will operate LAND CRUISER BASE as a specialty store that will serve as a place for Toyota to deepen its ties with customers, offer various services and activities based on customer feedback, such as planning and selling original parts and goods, create a community in which customers come together, and host events.

To view the LAND CRUISER BASE teaser site, please see the following:

https://toyota.jp/info/landcruiserbase (in Japanese)

■ About TOYOTA GAZOO ROOKIE Racing

ROOKIE Racing is a privateer team that focuses on making ever-better cars and developing human resources through the skills and dedication of various drivers, including Toyota’s master driver, professional drivers, gentleman drivers, and Toyota’s in-house evaluation drivers. TGR and ROOKIE Racing’s hitherto relationship was one of TGR taking the lead in car manufacturing and human resource development, with ROOKIE Racing being a privateer team that competes in motorsports as part of such TGR activities.

Going forward, TGR and ROOKIE Racing will work together under the banner of “TOYOTA GAZOO ROOKIE Racing” as “development partners who engage with cars and people on the front line, using driving data from races and other extreme conditions as a common language” to take the making of ever-better motorsports-bred cars and human resources development to the next level.

Specifically, TOYOTA GAZOO ROOKIE Racing intends to hone the GR YARIS (NÜR 24h) in the NLS and the GR YARIS M Concept in the Super Taikyu Series.

■ About TGR’s global motorsports structure

Through such initiatives as its partnership with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, Hitech TGR’s driver development activities in Europe, and the establishment of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Development, TGR is promoting efforts to hone the three elements of motorsports: people, product, and pipeline. Furthermore, to seamlessly advance the development of people, environments, and systems in motorsports, TGR is strengthening its global motorsports structure by positioning Morizo at the top and assigning two direct-report global directors. It is also bolstering cooperation with related organizations, affiliated companies, racing teams, and TGR’s bases of operations in Japan and overseas, as well as promoting people development and environment creation.

^*1A customized car event; January 10: industry and press invitation day, January 11 and 12: general public days

^*2For GR86s produced between October 2021 and July 2024

^*3Sales of reprinted brochures through the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rakuten Ichiba store are scheduled to start on February 3, 2025.

^*4To continue as TOYOTA GAZOO Racing-World Rally Team CEO and concurrently serve as a director of TGR Global Motorsport

During the event’s three days, TGR plans to hold talk sessions featuring various personalities, as well as outdoor vehicle demo runs. Detailed information on exhibited vehicles, the talk sessions, the demo runs, and others can be found on the following special website.

https://toyotagazooracing.com/eventexhibition/tokyoautosalon/

■ Nürburgring—Morizo’s starting point

TGR’s exhibit is planned to feature vehicles related to competing in the Nürburgring 24 Hours Endurance Race, which is known as the world’s toughest road circuit race and the starting point of TGR and Morizo. Morizo and then-Toyota Master Driver Hiromu Naruse, who was Morizo’s driving mentor, based on their shared belief that “races are the best places to pass on skills and develop human resources”, competed in the aforementioned Nürburgring race for the first time in 2007. In their　““DIY-style”” team that took up the challenge, Toyota employees served as drivers and engineers, and the vehicle they competed in was a modified used Toyota Altezza. Representing the starting point of TGR’s philosophy of making ever-better motorsports-bred cars, TGR plans to display, among other cars, the TOYOTA ALTEZZA #109（2007 NÜR 24h）used by that first team and the TOYOTA SUPRA（NÜR training car）that served as Morizo’s Nürburgring training vehicle.

■ Talk sessions and outdoor demo runs

The talk sessions, under the theme of “Challenging Nürburgring”, are to feature Morizo and TGR drivers active in Japan and abroad as well as various programs including one in which professional drivers, evaluation drivers, and engineers talk about the past and future. Also, Morizo, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing-World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala, TGR-WRT Deputy Team Principal Juha Kankkunen, and driver Norihiko Katsuta are to perform outdoor demo runs in a rally cars and a concept vehicle model. Details on the dates, times, and contents will be posted on the special website mentioned above as they become available.

^*A customized car event; January 10: business day (industry and press), January 11 and 12: general public days)