√More Toyota GR Corolla hot hatches coming to Australia in 2024

Australia’s allocation of Toyota GR Corolla hot hatchbacks may grow for its second year on sale in 2024 – including a chance for more two-seat Morizo Editions, if there is enough demand.

The number of 2024 Toyota GR Corolla hot hatchbacks allocated to Australian showrooms is poised to increase late next year – pending any unforeseen slowdowns – amid high demand here and overseas.

As previously reported by Drive, only 725 examples of the Toyota GR Corolla will be allocated to Australia for the first year of sales, starting March 2023 – up from the initial estimate of 500 – comprised of 700 five-seat GTS and 25 two-seat Morizo editions.

The Japanese car giant has acknowledged the first year’s allocation will fall short of demand, as the company says it has taken 4900 expressions of interest in the past five months.

MORE: 2023 Toyota GR Corolla price and specs: New hot hatch to start from $62,300

Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley says the company is “optimistic” it can secure a larger allocation of cars towards the end of next year – though details are yet to be confirmed.

“It’s hard to say right now because we’re still in a very volatile supply situation,” Mr Hanley told Drive last week, when asked if Toyota Australia can secure more cars for the second year of sales (March 2024 to March 2025).

“For this car [the five-seat GTS] the 700 is firm for this year – between March of this year and March of next year, no change. But I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to secure more in the new year – probably more likely to be the later part of 2024, not the earlier part.

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“Of course that does also depend on demand and sales. We expect a positive response from the market but you know, time will tell on this,” the executive said.

Toyota Japan has previously confirmed 8600 examples of the GR Corolla are planned to be built globally for Model Year 2023 – including 6600 for the US market.

Australia’s initial batch of 725 examples – which executives say are planned to arrive throughout the year – are expected to fall into this MY23 production run.

When asked how many GR Corolla hot hatches Toyota Australia could sell if it had unlimited stock, Mr Hanley told Drive: “I don’t know, it’s a hard one.

“Theoretical? You’d like to start with about 1200 and work up. You see the thing with the performance market is it’s there and it exists in Australia, but it’s actually not infinitive.

The executive added: “This car [GR Corolla] has a lot to offer to a broader audience … so I think it will appeal to a broader audience than potentially GR86 that’s a more specialised audience.

“So I think it’s capable [of selling] a lot of cars. 1200 wouldn’t be a big extension I wouldn’t have thought for this car, to be honest,” Mr Hanley said.

Meanwhile, Mr Hanley stressed that the two-seat Morizo model is not a limited edition, and will continue into 2024 – potentially with a larger batch of cars available.

When asked if Toyota Australia has intentionally capped the GR Corolla Morizo to 25 vehicles for the first year to maintain its exclusivity, or it is the largest number of the cars the company could secure, Mr Hanley told Drive:

“All we could get. It’s important to understand that we’re not watching a limited edition run – we just can’t get more than 25.

“It really is aimed up at a very specialised audience. So if the demand is there we’ll try to get more in the new year, but our commitment right now is 25. But I don’t want to portray that as a ‘limited run and that’s it’, we may be able to get more.”

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