Toyota To Build 6,600 GR Corollas For U.S., 2,000 Globally For 2023MY, Dealers May Only Get 3 Cars Each

From the moment the specs of the 2023 GR Corolla were confirmed many of us started foaming at the mouth. While we’re still waiting on official pricing, Toyota has confirmed to Carscoops that they’re only going to build 8,600 units in total (globally) for the first year, and that includes the fancy Circuit Edition. If you’ve been chomping at the bit to get one you might want to contact your dealer right away.

Last week, Toyota Vice President of Marketing Mike Tripp told Road & Track that the brand planned to make “one too few”. Now, a Toyota spokesperson told us that 6,600 cars will be made for the US market with another 2,000 earmarked for the rest of the world. To our ears, this might be a bit more than just one too few since it’s perhaps the most practical and punchy hot hatch in America since the Ford Focus RS.

Can I Reserve One And What Will Toyota Do About Potential Markups?

We asked Toyota’s spokesperson, and he told us that, “customers can contact a Toyota dealership about reserving a unit”. We did exactly that, and you can read about how it went below. As for the question lingering in everyone’s mind after hearing and living so many horror stories in the age of chip shortage, here’s what Toyota said about markups.

“We recognize that there is a lot of excitement about the GR Corolla and that customers are anxious to be among the first to own the new model,” said the Toyota spokesperson. “Toyota has established a Manufacturers’ Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) that is, as it sounds, a retail price suggested by the manufacturer. Because our dealers are independent business owners, the final transaction price will be the result of interactions between the customer and the dealer. Our sales group has consulted with our regional offices to ask them to be aware of transaction prices and consult with dealers as needed.”

Photo Mike Gauthier for Carscoops

Of the 6,600 units coming to the states, 1,500 of them will be made in the fully-loaded Circuit Edition spec. It gets special suede-trimmed seats, big hood vents, limited-slip differentials, black-painted exterior trim, and a big spoiler in the rear. A carbon-fiber roof is an exclusive touch that Core trim buyers won’t be able to spec though.

Thankfully, for the 5,100 Core owners, most of the major performance upgrades will be available as optional extras. A special Performance Package will include many desirable features together for a yet unannounced price. That’s a theme with the GR Corolla for the moment.

Toyota hasn’t really done so much as hint at exactly how much the base Core trim will be or what buyers can expect to pay for the Circuit Edition. Our guess is that the former could start from the high 30s (if we’re lucky) to $40,000 and the latter from around $45,000, which seems like quite a lot of cash for what is ultimately a three-cylinder Corolla. OK, not really, but you get what we’re trying to say.

Still, we won’t be shocked when quite a number of those who get an allocation end up flipping this car for quite a bit more. We can only hope that Toyota has a plan to keep dealers from marking these up to the moon. We’ve reached out to Toyota to get clarification on a number of these factors.

Toyota Dealer Says Allocation To Be Limited To Around 3 Cars Per Dealership

Photo Mike Gauthier for Carscoops

A couple of us here at Carscoops have actually requested information on getting one of these for ourselves. Both my editor and I reached out to several dealerships in our respective states for information, including if we can get on a waiting list. Leaving aside the bot responses or “let me get you in a 2022 Corolla with a $500 downpayment in 4-6 months”, several told us they can put our name on an “email waiting list” and get back to us once they have more details. However, one dealer who actually knew about the car gave us an interesting piece of information when asked about pricing and allocation.

“No pricing, no timing. I can say that every dealer has been allocated about 3. Only 3.” We’ve asked Toyota to confirm this, and will updated our story when they get back to us, but the math isn’t too far off given that there are around 1,500 Toyota dealers spread across the States.

A couple of dealers also confirmed what we had heard even before the debut, that the GR Corolla (thanks to this guy) will arrive this fall and specifically, October (at least in NY).

We imagine that spots will go fast considering that it’s the only game in town after Subaru announced that it won’t be selling a 2023 WRX STI.