It seems certain that a new Toyota MR2 is coming in the next few years, it’s just a case of when. Rumours of the return of Midship Runabout 2-seater have been doing the rounds since the stealthy reveal of the Sports EV concept back in 2021, followed up by the closer-to-production-looking FT-Se in 2023.
While we’re still waiting for an official confirmation of its return from Toyota, the manufacturer has teased us on more than one occasion. Here’s everything we know so far about the new Toyota MR2.
Will anyone else help develop the new Toyota MR2?
Toyota FT-Se concept – rear
Although Toyota has relied on other manufacturers to help get its recent sports cars across the line – see the Subaru-developed GR86 and BMW Z4-based Supra – it appears it won’t be taking that direction for the new MR2.
Reports have suggested that it’ll sit on a bespoke platform for the car, developed wholly by Toyota. It could well borrow bits from other GR cars, though, and our closest official tease yet is the GR Yaris M Concept revealed in January 2025.
Although that car had the body of the Yaris, it housed a new mid-mounted 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine (more on that in a bit), which is something that car very much does not normally have. That prototype made its racing debut in Japan’s Super Taikyu series to ‘further explore the potential of the GR Yaris’ in Autumn 2025, though it seems there’s more to it than that.
Toyota GR Yaris M Concept, rear, engine cover open
As reported by CarScoops, during a Toyota press conference at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January, Hiroaki Ishiura, a driver for Toyota’s Rookie Racing squad, reportedly said of the GR Yaris M: “I think it’s going to be an MR-something.”
That was only fuelled further by chairman Akio Toyoda, who said when asked if the Yaris could morph into a production model: “That’s our hope and we can all imagine various things at this moment – there is no official announcement yet.”
In relevant news, there have been recent reports in Japan that Mazda and Toyota are working together on the next generation of the GR86 and MX-5.
Will the new Toyota MR2 be electric, hybrid or pure petrol-powered?
We had expected the next Toyota MR2 to be an electric car when the FT-Se was revealed, with some press blurb describing the concept as a ‘High-performance sports [battery electric vehicle] model proposed as one of the options for sports cars in the carbon-neutral era.’
However, in the years since, Toyota has been working away on a brand-new 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine that is set for use in future GR cars. That’s the one hiding away in the back of the GR Yaris M.
That has been designed to support both mild- and full-hybrid setups, suggesting the MR2 could feature internal combustion power with some form of electrification. It’s also expected to find its way into the upcoming new Celica, with Japanese publication Best Car reporting it could have up to 400bhp in that car. Something similar for the MR2 may not be out of the question, but we can only speculate for the time being.
It’s expected that the new MR2 will use a four-wheel drive system with that engine, plus the choice of a six-speed manual or eight-speed torque converter gearbox. Don’t be put off by the latter – we’ve tried it in the GR Yaris, and it’s very, very good.
When is the new Toyota MR2 coming?
Officially, nothing has been confirmed, so we can’t say for sure. However, various reports have touted that 2026 could be the year of the new Toyota MR2. We’ll take bets on it arriving before GTA VI.
If it’s to be revealed any time soon, we’d hedge our bets on news coming at the 2026 Tokyo Auto Salon in January.
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