The Toyota GR86 will be on sale in Europe for just two years in Europe and is unlikely to be replaced after that.
Speaking at Toyota's annual Kenshiki forum, European CEO Matt Harrison said: “We’re already receiving a growing number of enquiries from potential customers – including those who believe the GR86 could be the last of its kind. And at least for Europe, they might be right."
Interested customers should act "relatively quickly" to place their orders, he said, as sales in the region will end in just two years time, because the GR86 won't be compliant with incoming European safety regulations without significant re-engineering.
Order books for the GR86 – which recently lost the space in its name for marketing reasons – will open in the Spring, ahead of deliveries beginning in the first half of 2022.
Toyota’s senior European vice-president, Tom Fux, told Autocar: “We felt that the vehicle is so good and so needed for Toyota’s image in Europe, and we have a small but very passionate group of customers out there who are searching for vehicles like the GR86.
“In the end, we decided it’s important to offer this vehicle, and then we will need to stop the vehicle, because it will not meet the new requirements in the future.
"But these two years will still provide an opportunity for passionate customers to get the vehicle.”
The news comes just two weeks after UK media drove the GT86 successor for the first time in Spain, and Harrison said that company president Akio Toyoda – a renowned sports car fan – would be "delighted" to see the widely positive feedback.
The suggestion that the GR86 will be the "last of its kind" hints that Toyota isn't planning to introduce another non-electrified, affordable sports car in this vein. Fux said this is meant in the sense that the GR86 is “a pure sports car which is really focused on performance and fun on the road".
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Great news its coming. Terrible news it will be gone almost before it arrives. I wish autocar had explained the rule change that will prevent it from being sold for longer, rather than just repeating what they are told. I suspect its more to do with fleet CO2 averages.
Anyway, lets hope it sells well while its available, and maybe Toyota will be inspired to engineer a solution.
I feel conflicted - one half of me says well done Toyota for making such a fun, non-SUV car for us to enjoy despite the challenges, but the other half is saying all this is just laying the foundations for a huge price leap over the GT86.