A dealership show in Las Vegas may have featured the 2027 Toyota Corolla GRMN on display before its public reveal. The time to get excited over a hotter hatch Toyota Corolla is nigh thanks to teasers that seem to show a juiced-up version of Toyota’s already hot hatch is on the way. Now there are some reports that say the 2027 Toyota Corolla GRMN is real, and it looks like something from the early 2000s tuner era.
But that might not be a bad thing as it also features some real go-fast parts installed from the factory, just as we saw from the GR Corolla Morizo Edition. The GR Corolla Morizo Edition was already considered a bonkers, limitedrun car for a mainstream brand, and now Toyota is possibly doing something similar with the Corolla GRMN.
A GR Corolla Forum leak shows there are many similarities, starting with the same 18-inch forged wheels in a new shade of Bronze. We also see fender vents, a new exposed-carbon hood, and, most importantly, the rear seat delete.
There also appears to be a new set of GR Recaro front seats with even more bolstering, but the post from the Toyota Town Hall Dealer Expo makes no mention about whether this is a production version or possibly a version you will be able to order on top of the standard Corolla GRMN, as we see with the GRMN Yaris from Japan.
For those unfamiliar, the “GRMN” model is the top spec of Gazoo Racing Toyotas, and the acronym stands for “Gazoo Racing Meister of Nürburgring,” a nod to the famous track in Nürburg, Germany. Right now, the only GRMN model in the wild is indeed the GRMN Yaris that was initially limited to 500 examples and featured a wider stance, a 44-pound weight reduction, AWD, a close-ratio gearbox, and other improvements that really let the 270- hp Yaris fly.
The car was also available with a Circuit Package or Rally Package. Prior to a potentially kitted out Corolla GRMN, owners salivated for the GR Corolla Circuit Edition and the further stripped-down Morizo Edition. The GR Corolla Circuit Edition was already a rare and truly hot hatchback.
It was a single-year run featuring a lightweight treatment using a forged carbon-fiber roof, hood vents, a big rear wing, and a near perfect weight balance. Toyota then turned that up to 11 with the Morizo Edition by ditching everything it could to still be called a reasonable street car, including losing the rear passenger seats, rear door speakers, and window regulators, and adding a set of 18-inch forgedaluminum wheels.
The Morizo also used a unique gearbox with a short-throw shifter better suited for circuit driving and putting down the power from the 1.6-liter turbocharged I-3 to all four wheels. We reached out to Toyota to confirm if the car seen at the Las Vegas dealer show is in fact the Corolla GRMN, but it would only say, “We cannot comment on speculation about future product.”
