Toyota Confirmed America’s First Run of GR GTs Has Already Been Spoken for ‘By Design’
The first run of GR GT supercars headed for the United States has already been accounted for, Toyota confirmed. Toyota says there won’t be enough examples of the GR GT to meet demand, “by design,” as it wants t...
- The first run of GR GT supercars headed for the United States has already been accounted for, Toyota confirmed.
- Toyota says there won’t be enough examples of the GR GT to meet demand, “by design,” as it wants to avoid flippers or collectors who will hide the car away.
- The initial allocation of U.S.-bound cars will be fewer than 250 examples, though the automaker wouldn’t confirm global production numbers.
We’ve been down this road before. An automaker announces a high-performance sports car with seductive looks, then pulls the rug out from under us by selling all of them before ever giving the public a chance to buy it. It’s been part of the supercar playbook for years, and, unfortunately, Toyota just confirmed that is exactly what happened with the upcoming GR GT.
Andrew Gilleland, Toyota’s senior vice president of automotive operations, confirmed to Car and Driver at a media event during Monterey Car Week that the entire first production run of GR GTs has been spoken for—at least in the United States.
Gilleland said that at some point before the transaction goes through, he will personally speak with every GR GT buyer. “We’re not going to have enough to meet demand, and that’s by design,” he said. Toyota’s goal is to make sure that every buyer is someone who will actually drive the car, not someone looking to turn around and sell it to make a quick buck.
“It’s a passion project, and it was made because Akio Toyoda wants a world-class performance car. We don’t want to sell cars to flippers; we only want people who are going to drive it,” Gilleland said.
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Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1.
After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf.