REPORT: Toyota reviving Celica name for joint Subaru RWD car

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[ffpower]

The last report about the on again/off again sports car being developed jointly by Toyota and Subaru was that it's on again. Today comes word from L'Automobile in France that not only is the rear-wheel-drive Toyubaru going to happen, but it will arrive bearing the Celica name sometime in 2010. If Wikipedia is to be believed, this would be the eighth generation of the Celica, which traces its roots all the way back to 1970 when it debuted in Japan as an inexpensive rear-wheel-drive sports car. Through the years it switched to front- and all-wheel drive, with the final seventh generation Celica sold from 2000 - 2005 being a strict cart puller. L'Automobile claims that Thierry Dombreval, Toyota's VP of sales and marketing in France, spilled the beans on reviving the Celica name, so we won't consider this news solid until a second source comes forward or Toyota officially confirms it, neither of which is likely to happen. So for now all you Celica fans should just sit tight and light a few candles for your cause.

source: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/23/report-toyota-reviving-celica-name-for-joint-subaru-rwd-car/

ffpower says:  Ok, even though I've said before that I'll believe it when it is officially announced by Toyota but this is still great news no matter what.

[synikalsoysauce]

ill take a 6th gen ST205 GT4 Celica over this. 3S-GTE with AWD. still one of the top on my cars-to-get list.

although i was waiting on the 8th gen to come stateside, this should be a sportscar revival. no fwd bs. im so happy to see manufacturers coming out with awd/rwd, inline-4t or v6 options. the biggest downside is all the electronics that are involved and all the emissions junk they throw into these cars that make modifying a pain and very expensive. it is nice for those that dailydrive but for us enthusiasts... yeah.

me happy toyota is doing this. they need to veer away from that old-grandma hybrid camry junk for a bit. come back to sportscars! Honda has it right with its mix of motorsports and sportscars.

[ffpower]

Honda has it right with its mix of motorsports and sportscars.

I think you meant Honda "had" it right with its mix of motorsports and spotrscars. Because I am scratching my head right now trying to come up with what in the current Honda lineup can be considered as "sporty"...

[Peter_95]

aston martin wannabe?

[ffpower]

aston martin wannabe?

Nothing wrong with that... 

[synikalsoysauce]

taken from Car And Driver:

Toyota confirms that its partnership with Subaru will spawn a small and affordable rear-wheel-drive sports car with a boxer engine that each Japanese automaker will badge as its own.

The long-rumored two-door is a necessity for Toyota, which has been in dire need of a sports car since the demise of the MR2, Celica, and Supra in the U.S. For Subaru, it means greater acceptance and volumes for its unique boxer engine, and another sports car to enhance its performance image.

The automakers are not providing details of the horizontally-opposed engine in the new sports car, but the 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter turbocharged boxers would have to be the most serious candidates.

To improve the new coupe’s rear-drive handling potential, we’ve been told Toyota is expected to slide the Subaru engine rearward, deeper into the engine bay, giving the powertrain a more front midship-like location and allowing for better weight distribution.

New Subaru Platform

As for the car itself, it will be designed by Toyota but ride on a new Subaru platform, officials said in a press conference in Tokyo. The global car is for all major markets.

Timing for the sports car is to be on the market in 2011, and Fuji president Ikuo Mori reportedly has driven a working test vehicle.

When General Motors sold its stake in Fuji in 2005, Toyota scooped up an 8.7 percent share and replaced GM as the joint-venture partner in the Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana. Toyota now builds Camrys there. The success of the Indiana venture is said to have spawned talks for further collaboration.

At the Tokyo news conference, Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe announced Toyota will spend $311 million to boost its share in Fuji to 16.5 percent and the two companies will pursue further vehicle projects. For starters, Toyota will provide Subaru with a compact car and next year affiliate Daihatsu will supply Subaru with minicars (660cc or smaller engine), freeing Fuji from having to develop its own tiny cars in the future.

Fuji would rather concentrate on strengths such as the horizontally-opposed engine that it has also begun offering as a diesel for the first time. A 2.0-liter four-cylinder boxer diesel is now available in Europe in the 2008 Subaru Legacy and Outback and the engine is destined for the U.S. in two or three years.
What’s a Subie Without All-Wheel Drive?

And while there was no mention of an all-wheel-drive version, given Subaru’s expertise in this area, we expect buyers will be given the option.

Prior to the announcement, Car and Driver was told that Subaru engineers were taking unprecedented steps to recalibrate the four-wheel-drive system into a rear-drive setup. And one Toyota executive went so far as to say, “We’re going to great lengths to modify the 4WD into a rear-drive format, so putting a 4WD version together will be easy.”

In trying to keep weight down, there has been talk that Toyota was contemplating in-wheel front motors to complete the 4WD package—as opposed to using Subaru’s symmetrical AWD system. But this would impede entry in the World Rally Championships.

Rumors of a further tie-up between the two automakers have abounded for some time, strengthened by sightings of Toyota engineers entering Subaru’s R&D headquarters north of Tokyo, while Subaru Legacy test cars have been spotted passing through the gates of Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji maximum security facility at the base of Mt. Fuji, southwest of Tokyo.

The new coupe is expected to tackle the $20,000-plus crowd that includes the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, and the Mazda MX5.

[Peter_95]

so i wonder what happened with the partnership.....