√Weeks-old Toyota GR Corolla sells for $14,000 above list price at auction in Australia

One of Australia’s first new Toyota GR Corolla hot hatches has already been ‘flipped’ on the used market for nearly $14,000 more than its list price – despite Toyota’s efforts to keep the cars away from resellers.

One of the first new examples of the in-demand Toyota GR Corolla hot hatch to arrive in Australia has already sold for nearly $14,000 more than its list price at auction.

Despite Toyota Australia dealers ‘screening’ GR Corolla buyers in an attempt to keep it away from opportunistic re-sellers planning to ‘flip’ the car for a profit, this example is already onto its second owner less than a month after it was registered for road use in NSW.

The white GR Corolla GTS – reportedly registered in NSW on 15 March 2023, and one of only 700 examples coming to Australia in the next 12 months – was sold by online auction house Collecting Cars, with only 100 kilometres on the clock at the time of sale.

Listed with no reserve price, bidding for the hot hatch surpassed Toyota’s list price of $62,300 (plus on-road costs) with five days of the auction still to run.

In the hours minutes before the auction’s conclusion, bidding pushed the Toyota GR Corolla’s price up to more than $70,000 before it ultimately sold for a hammer price of $76,050.

With a six per cent auction fee and GST applied, the hot hatch’s new buyer would have paid almost $88,700 for the Toyota GR Corolla – $26,600 more than the GTS variant’s list price, and nearly $11,000 more than the two-seater ‘Morizo Edition’ model.

Toyota Australia’s online price calculator lists an estimated drive-away price for a white GR Corolla GTS in Sydney of $67,380.

As previously reported, only 725 examples of the Toyota GR Corolla will be available in Australia for the next 12 months – across 700 GTS variants, and 25 Morizo editions – distributed across its dealership network throughout the first year.

This allocation of 725 cars averages at three cars for each of Toyota’s 232 dealers across Australia.

However, the allocation is not linear – some customers have reported on social media that many dealers are only receiving one GR Corolla for 2023, which is being kept as a showroom display car and demonstrator, not sold straight to a customer.

In response to more than 4900 expressions of interest and low supply of the Toyota GR Corolla, the car maker said it would advise dealers to ‘screen’ potential buyers before allocating vehicles, taking into account buyers’ car ownership history and car-club membership, among other factors.

While this Toyota GR Corolla is believed to be first which has sold at auction on the used-car market in Australia, two examples of the hot hatch have appeared on popular private sales websites – listed for $89,990 and $120,000 respectively.

Whether these vehicles sell for the marked-up prices they are being advertised for remains to be seen.

The Toyota GR Corolla is powered by a 1.6-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine which develops up to 221kW and 370Nm (or 400Nm for Morizo Edition).

Drive is sent to all four wheels through a six-speed manual transmission, with limited-slip differentials at the front and rear for extra traction through corners.

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