The GR Sport won’t make its way to the United States, though. For now, the only GR-branded product Toyota plans on bringing to the U.S. is the Supra (we’ll see how long that lasts, though). But that doesn’t mean we can’t look on from afar. The whole point of the Corolla GR Sport, per Toyota, is to bring the Gazoo Racing brand to other segments and thereby introduce it to younger buyers. Both Mercedes and BMW have done something similar with their AMG and M sub-brands, which offer less powerful variants as sporty entry-level options to many of the two performance arms’ racier models.
The GR Sport is essentially an accent package to give the Euro-market Corolla a little bit more visual oomph. There are small changes all over the exterior of the car: black mirror caps, black bumper accents, black door sill décor, and a discrete, body-colored trunk-lid spoiler. A set of sporty, multispoke wheels complete the new look. Inside, the Corolla gets a pair of aggressively bolstered, racy-looking front seats that appear as though they’d be more at home in a Porsche than a Corolla.
While it doesn’t make the Corolla an out-and-out performance machine, the GR Sport’s appearance is a bit easier on the eyes than the aforementioned Apex Edition. It’s less in your face and somehow more purposeful looking. Toyota will offer the GR Sport kit on both the 1.6-liter four-cylinder Corolla, as well as the gasoline-electric Corolla Hybrid. Notably missing from its powertrain menu, though, is the 169-hp 2.0-liter four-pot found under the hood of the U.S.-spec Apex Edition (not to mention the SE and XSE trims). Sure, we like the handsome looks of the GR Sport, but we’ll happily accept the slightly kitschier styling of the Apex Edition to enjoy the extra grunt of its bigger engine.
