GR – from racing team to performance brand

Though a young brand, GR is today well known for its range of Toyota high-performance models which began with the GR Supra in 2019. The two letters stand for GAZOO Racing, which began as a racing team in 2007. The team was made up of Toyota test drivers and included Akio Toyoda, former President of the company and now its Chairman. The unofficial nature of the team meant it was not allowed to call itself a ‘Toyota Works Team’, so Toyoda suggested ‘GAZOO’ for its name since he had established a website (for Toyota) called GAZOO.com earlier.

The first event GAZOO Racing entered was the Nurburgring 24-hour race. The team provided feedback on the performance of its racing cars to Toyota engineers which were useful for their product development work. At the same time, Toyoda saw the value of motorsports to help in product development for making ever better cars that would be ‘fun to drive, again’.

Although GAZOO Racing became more active in motorsports, it remained an unofficial affiliate of Toyota for a while. This perhaps was not a bad idea as, on the one hand, the team could keep up its racing activities while on the others, the team members were also Toyota employees, Therefore, it could be given prototypes to test in extreme conditions to provide feedback to engineers.

‘Fun to drive, again’
After 2009, the role of GAZOO Racing grew quickly after Toyoda became President. Having grown up in the age of Japanese sportscars, he wanted to bring back such cars and promised to make Toyotas ‘fun to drive, again’ when he spoke at the 2009 Tokyo Motorshow. He also wanted to generate more excitement for motorsports among the young, especially the Japanese, and personally got involved in many activities.

With GAZOO Racing, he could expand the role of promoting motorsports with grassroots activities aimed at creating new generations of car enthusiasts. This led to unifying the different organisations (such as Toyota Racing Development or TRD) under the GAZOO Racing banner.

GR is born
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, which was in charge of vehicle development for motorsports activities, was renamed GAZOO Racing Company in 2017 during the restructuring of Toyota Motor Corporation. The newly created company was a more business-focussed unit and besides motorsports activities, it also created GR as Toyota’s performance brand, complementing Lexus which is its luxury brand. GR would be what AMG is to Mercedes-Benz and M is to BMW.

To market GR products, GAZOO Racing Company established a new dealership channel in Japan known as GR Garage. More than just an outlet selling the high-performance models, performance parts and accessories, each GR Garage was to be ‘the most fun car shop in town where enthusiasts can gather, talk, and enjoy cars together’.

The GR Garage with its high performance products reflects Toyota’s confidence in the durability and reliability of its cars. This has come about over decades of kaizen (continuous improvement) and making ever better cars by listening closely to customer feedback which the GR Garage is one point of contact.

GAZOO Racing comes to Malaysia
While the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team was active and increasingly successful in global motorsports, especially the World Rally Championship, the GR business remained largely in Japan for the first few years. In many countries, TRD (Toyota Racing Development – an in-house division specializing in performance products) – was prominent in motorsports as it had been active since the 1970s.

When GAZOO Racing Company decided it was time to extend its business overseas, Malaysia was one of the first countries it started having a presence in. This began in 2017 with the first TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Festival (TGR Festival) which was a motorsports-related festival that included a one-make series for the Toyota Vios as the highlight.

Vios Challenge
The TGR Festival was just one aspect of a larger objective of UMW Toyota Motor which was the development of motorsports. While many companies focus on the upper levels of racing, it is at the grassroots level where the future generation comes from. UMWT has therefore focussed on this segment to draw new blood to the sport, and to make the cost of entry affordable.

As a start, the one-make series known as the Vios Challenge would provide a more affordable racing series for newcomers to join. All the cars would have identical specifications and therefore identical performance. So it is driver skill and strategy that would make the difference in the race, and also make for more exciting close racing.

Another interesting thing about the Vios Challenge was that it was run on specially-prepared street circuits in Penang, Terengganu, Johor and Kuala Lumpur/Selangor, as well as the Sepang International Circuit. This brought motorsports to other parts of the country and with the carnival atmosphere of the TGR Festival, large crowds turned up for the weekend events.

The Vios Challenge has become a very popular event with a huge audience, both at the tracks as well as online as it was livestreamed. Since 2017, it has drawn over 30 million spectators on the ground as well as online.

Today, the Vios Challenge has become the country’s most lucrative racing series with a total of RM800,000 in prize money, including RM80,000 and RM60,000 for the champions in the Sporting and Super Sporting classes.

Bringing new blood
In order to bring new blood to the sport, UMW Toyota Motor started the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Young Talent Development Program in 2021. Young Malaysians with racing potential had an opportunity to be trained as racers, going through an extensive program and also being provided cars to use.

The rookies have proven to be very talented when they got behind the wheel of the Toyota Vios. Many come from a background of simulator racing or karting and are skilled at these sports. The realism of sim racing today has prepared them for real-world racing as they are already familiar with racing techniques.

To date, 22 drivers have graduated; over 10 currently competing in local races, with 4 entering the international stage. Many of the graduates over the 4 years have moved up into other classes and are presenting strong challenges to experienced drivers.  Clearly, with the support of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Young Talent Development Program, they have been able to pursue their dreams.

Moving into eSports
Additionally, UMW Toyota Motor also got involved in digital motorsports or eSports with the Toyota GR Velocity eSports Championship series which began in 2018. This Malaysian event inspired the running of the GR Supra GT Cup ASIA 2020 as the first virtual motorsport racing championship in Asia. The regional event has seen the best sim racers from 5 countries – Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and India – competing against each other.

The GR products
As for the GR products, Malaysia was among the first countries to start selling the GR Supra in 2019. Following the Japanese retail model, all GR models would be available only through selected authorised Toyota dealerships which incorporated the GR Garage.

With the GR models – which slowly expanded to include models like the GR Yaris, GR Corolla and GR 86 – the Toyota brand image gained more sportiness which delivered on the promise of ‘fun-to-drive’. With the GR models, the brand has a side that can appeal to the younger and future generation of customers.

The success of the Vios Challenge also led to the development of a special version known as the Vios GR-Sport in 2020. It was developed with the experience gained in the development work for the racing cars in the Vios Challenge and only sold in Malaysia. Enhancements to the suspension gave the car a racing character while still being comfortable enough for daily use. The Vios GR-Sport attracted the attention of other markets and as interest grew, Toyota decided to make it a regional model as well.

The GR-Sport approach is used for other models such as the Corolla Cross HEV, Hilux and Corolla, offering variants with sportier looks and enhanced performance. With the performance image of the GR brand, Toyota vehicles have a broadened appeal to the younger segment of car-buyers.

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