Three year wait times quoted for GR Corolla in Australia as limited supply and soaring demand hit yet another Toyota

Another week, another story about the Gazoo Racing (GR) Corolla, and this time, the news is not so good at all – unless you're one of the lucky few who have already put a deposit down for the new Toyota hot hatch before official pricing and specifications have been announced for Australia.

CarsGuide has learned that Toyota Motor Company Australia (TMCA) had instructed its dealer network to quote wait times of up to three years for the high-performance turbo all-wheel drive hyper-hatch out of Japan.

That's correct: up to three years for delivery of a GR Corolla.

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Furthermore, it appears that TMCA already has over 1000 orders and counting for the GR Corolla as of the middle of last week, as consumers realise that this model will only be built in comparatively limited numbers and that global supply won't be strong.

This is according to a Toyota dealer source, speaking directly to CarsGuide on the subject of GR Corolla availability.

If this is the case, then that three-year time frame is simple mathematics really, given that only 500 examples will be made available annually to Australian buyers when sales commence in the fourth quarter of this year.

With at least 1000 (fully refundable) deposits already received more than seven days ago now, prospective consumers who order a GR Corolla right now probably would not see their vehicles delivered in Australia until sometime in the second half of 2024.

Considering that there will be just 8600 built in the first year and that 6600 are heading to North America, it leaves precious few for the rest of the world to squabble over.

A TMCA spokesperson has been contacted but has yet to comment or respond at the time of publishing.

There’s more too, with dealer confirmation that pricing will indeed be “between $70,000 and $80,000”, as per our indicative pricing story last week following a reader’s tip and subsequent dealer enquires conducted by CarsGuide.

We also received affirmation from the same source that Australia will receive both the GR Corolla Core as well as more-track-focused Circuit editions, accounting for the range in prices.

As we outlined last week, the Core’s $70,000 pricing is expected to be 'driveaway', making the Toyota cost competitive against one of its closest rivals in Australia, the Volkswagen Golf R that starts from $65,900 before on-road costs, or $68,990 for the unique R wagon alternative.

To recap, the 2023 GR Corolla will be powered by a 220kW/370Nm 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine, driving all four wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.

More details, including actual pricing and full specification, will be revealed at a later date.