To the European Union: Thank you very much. Your high-performance cars have been coming to us for years, and now we’re finally paying you back in a roundabout way. Toyota has decided to open a second production line in the UK, mostly for exports to the US. This will add to the hot hatches made at its Motomachi site in Japan, even though the GR Corolla isn’t made in North America. Initially, these cars, which were manufactured in the UK, were not available for purchase in the US. This would have been very unfair. A Toyota representative, on the other hand, said that this might not be the case. Last week, Toyota Europe COO Matt Harrison told Auto Express, “We believe that you build where you sell. So, building in Europe and not selling in Europe would go against that.” Given the current supply-demand gap, the speed with which we can get it is very important. We need to move quickly. It’s pretty much a done deal when someone with the job title “C” says that. Additionally, this marks the first time Toyota has openly stated its intention to introduce the hot hatch to Europe, where racing is treated with the respect it deserves. The GR Corolla was made by Toyota so that people who didn’t buy a Yaris in any form would not miss out on the GR Yaris. The Celica GT-Four and Corolla WRC make this possible. The GR Yaris is definitely cool, but it’s also pretty small. I didn’t like hearing that Toyota would sell a Corolla GR in the US. If America doesn’t have a direct link to a WRC race, it will get a bigger, heavier version of the same car. I couldn’t have made the Yaris work anyway after living with me for almost a year and a half. Since the inside of the GR Corolla is already cramped, I can only imagine the Tetris games that Yaris users have to play from time to time. Still, it’s a laugh. We have requested additional information from Toyota Europe officials regarding Harrison’s statement, and we will update this story as we receive it. Europe, I hope you have fun with your hot hatch for now. I believe you will.
