The MR2 Could Return With Something It Never Had

The Toyota MR2 could return in 2028 with more than 400 PS from a new turbocharged four-cylinder engine and, for the first time in the nameplate’s history, all-wheel drive.

Every earlier MR2 paired a mid-mounted engine with rear-wheel drive, so a four-wheel-drive version would break from the formula that defined the car from its 1984 debut. The second generation arrived in 1989, the third became the open-top car that Japan knew as the MR-S in 1999, and production ended in 2007.

The details come from Response.jp, the Japanese auto news site, which laid them out on October 6 and repeated them on October 31 in a piece on the reaction from readers on social media. Response does not name where the information came from, and it says plainly that Toyota has not announced an MR2 revival, a 2028 launch or a final powertrain. Everything below about the production car is the outlet’s reporting and has not been confirmed by Toyota.

The engine Response expects is the new G20E, a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four that Toyota is developing for its next generation of vehicles. It is more compact than the 2.4-liter engines it follows, which makes it easier to package low and behind the seats. Response puts output for a production version at about 400 to 450 PS, or roughly 395 to 444 horsepower, and says a motorsport version could make considerably more.

The hardware trail is real even if the name is not official. Toyota showed the GR Yaris M Concept at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon with the new engine moved behind the cabin, and it has raced the car in Japan’s Super Taikyu series to test cooling, durability and handling. In July, a separate two-door development car with a low roof, flared fenders and large side air intakes was seen near Fuji Speedway. Response says that car appears to use parts from existing models, so its looks will not necessarily carry over.

For design clues, the outlet points to the FT-Se, the two-seat battery electric sports car concept from the 2023 Japan Mobility Show, with its forward cabin and short overhangs, though it doubts a gas-powered car would look identical. Response also says Toyota has filed trademark applications for both "GR MR2" and "GR MR-S," which would put the GR performance brand at the front of the name. The reports give no price and do not say whether the car would be sold in the United States.

The Toyota Report Take

If this is right, Toyota is not bringing back the MR2 so much as borrowing its name for something far more serious. The old car’s charm was that it made mid-engine thrills attainable, and a 400-horsepower all-wheel-drive GR coupe is unlikely to be attainable in the same way. It could still be a terrific car, but the question that matters to American buyers is the one nobody has answered yet: whether it comes here, and at what price.

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