Three-cylinder, drivetrain-swapped GR86 is a homage to Toyota’s Celica GT-Four rally winners from the 1980s and ’90s

And we just might see a resurgence of rear-wheel-drive rallying from Toyota, too — if the company is brave enough to put its new SEMA concept into production. Known as the GR 86 Rally Legacy Concept,

Toyota has fitted the GR Corolla's AWD turbo-three into a GR86. Too bad the Rally Legacy car is just a SEMA concept.

In a world with Lamborghini Huracán Sterratos and Porsche 911 Dakars, why not a Toyota GR86 with serious off-road chops? That’s probably the question the Japanese automaker was asking, although the answer it has come up with will not go beyond this week’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

Japanese carmaker Toyota transformed a 2024 GR86 with the Performance Package into a modern-day replica of the Celica GT-Four

For this year’s SEMA Show, Toyota is presenting the GR86 Rally Legacy Concept, which pays homage to the brand’s storied rally heritage. While it may be based on a 2024 GR86 with the Performance Package,

What is perhaps more interesting is the mechanical package of the concept. Instead of the 2.0-liter flat-4 and rear-wheel drive of the stock GR86, Toyota has dropped in the turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-3 and all-wheel-drive system from the current GR Corolla hot hatch.

Toyotas GR86 Rally Legacy Concept is a revival of the Celica GT-Four, with all the contemporary upgrades you might want to see on a rally legend.

The GR86 Rally Legacy concept will debut at SEMA with a retro livery, all-wheel drive, and the GR Corolla's engine.

Four's rally car look but cloaks the all-wheel-drive, turbo three-cylinder powertrain from the GR Corolla under the GR86's body.