The Toyota GR86 Rally is a modern-day Celica GT-Four you can’t buy

The SEMA Show in Las Vegas has become renowned for the extreme, fascinating cars it attracts to the stands, and the 2024 edition is no different. Toyota’s Gazoo Racing department has developed a one-off GR86 Rally Legacy Concept especially for the event, which pays homage to its storied rallying history and employs GR Corolla power and all-wheel drive.

Taking a standard GR86 as a base, Toyota engineers swapped its 2.4-litre naturally-aspirated flat-four for the G16E-GTS turbocharged three-cylinder found in the GR Yaris and Corolla. To maintain performance and durability under rally conditions, an uprated intercooler and oil cooler have been applied, along with a race ECU to pull it all together. While Toyota says there is headroom for more power, outputs are unchanged from the standard GR Corolla at 300bhp and 273lb ft of torque, but that still puts it 69bhp and 89lb ft ahead of the base GR86.

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While more power is all well and good, this isn’t the only benefit of this new powertrain. Also carried over is the GR-Four all-wheel drive system, but this was far from an easy task. In order to make room for the all-wheel drive running gear (and taller transverse three-cylinder), the chassis had to be modified with a custom subframe, coilovers and control arms, increasing clearance and allowing for fitment of the GR Corolla’s hubs, spindles and axles. The steering rack has also been tweaked to improve feel and work with the significant geometry changes. 

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Similar tweaks were made at the rear, with the standard GR86 underpinnings swapped for those from the GR Corolla (albeit modified to fit). A new differential and housing allowed the concept to maintain the factory gear ratios, with the swap also retaining the functionality of the trick electronics within the complex GR Four all-wheel drive system for optimum power distribution. 

This car might only be a concept, but Toyota didn’t cut any corners here. Paying homage to the ST185 and ST205 Celica GT-Four Rally of the ‘90s, it features the same Halo White exterior paint with a heritage red and green livery. Oversized, rally-spec red mud flaps are fitted along with lexan windows, four-pod Wesem rally lights and a central twin-exit exhaust system. Toyota developed a bespoke spoiler to match the racer too, and just like the GT-Four Rally, it comes with six-spoke Speedline wheels in white, now wrapped in modern 235-section tarmac-spec Michelin rubber.

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It’s a similar story inside, with the GR86 completely stripped back, equipped with a full roll cage (painted in white to match the body) and a pair of Sparco racing seats with red six-point harnesses. There’s a new race-spec Sparco steering wheel too, alongside an extended rally shifter and neat motorsport-inspired features such as flush carbonfibre door cards and weight-saving fabric door pulls. 

Mike Tripp, Vice President of Toyota Marketing, said: 'The GR86 Rally Legacy Concept is a testament to Toyota’s enduring passion for rally racing. We did this build for our GR and Toyota Rally fans – it’s a fantasy car come to life, our way of celebrating our past achievements and the possibility of the World Rally Championship making a return to the United States.'

As much of a dream driver’s car this might be, it’s nothing more than a concept in its current form, built only for the 2024 SEMA Show. Regardless, if you’d like to see it in person, it will be on display at the Las Vegas Convention Center until November 8 2024.

Toyota GR86 Rally Legacy Concept specs