Toyota unleashes track-spec 2023 GR Corolla Morizo Edition

For those who may not know “Morizo”, it's actually the motorsports pseudonym of Toyota president and chief test driver Akio Toyoda. And yes, when a car is named after the big boss, that's when you know it's a special one.

Ferrari had the Enzo, now Toyota has the GR Corolla Morizo Edition – a special track-tuned hot hatch carefully crafted by Toyoda himself.

Toyota Gazoo Racing made the Morizo Edition 48 kg lighter than the GR Corolla Circuit Edition where it was based from. The diet included the removal of rear seats, rear speakers, rear power window mechanisms, the rear wiper, and its wiper motor, turning the hatchback into a two-seater track weapon.

In the looks department, the GR Corolla Morizo Edition receives a slightly different exterior. Because it's a track-spec model, the side intakes are now fully functional and serve as the front brake cooling ducts. In addition, there's a smaller rear spoiler than the Circuit Edition model.

Also, the Morizo Edition sports 18-inch forged aluminum wheels instead of the cast alloy pieces from the standard model and is wrapped in grippy 245/40R18 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, which are also 10mm thicker than the normal Pilot Sport 4. Lastly, the GR Corolla Morizo edition bears Morizo's signature on its front windshield to set it apart from the standard models.

As mentioned earlier, the rear seats have been removed from the interior. In place of it is a chassis stiffening brace that's similar to what Toyota has done with the GRMN Yaris. Doing this also allows the Morizo Edition to have ample space to fit four full-sized tires inside.

Special bucket seats have been fitted in front, and the cabin has a mix of leather and Ultrasuede upholstery. Despite being a track-spec model, the Morizo Edition still has an 8-inch touchscreen head unit and dual-zone climate control to go along with the 12.3-inch Multi-Information Display (MID). Lastly, the Morizo Edition also comes standard with the Toyota Safety Sense advanced driver-assist system.

Power-wise, the Morizo Edition still uses the G16E-GTS 1.6-liter three-cylinder turbo from the standard GR Corolla. It still produces 300 PS, but the torque was increased from 370 Nm to 400 Nm. Also, the Morizo Edition has a shorter peak torque band and is accessible from 3,250 to 4,600 rpm.

While the shorter torque band may be counter-intuitive when it comes to track performance, the retuning has been done to utilize the shorter gear ratios of the Morizo Edition's 6-speed manual gearbox. We should expect the track edition model to have a lower top speed, but that's the tradeoff to having quicker acceleration.

Toyota will announce the pricing of the GR Corolla Morizo Edition in the coming months and could be available come 2023. However, getting one might be a challenge as it's only limited to 200 units for the 2023 model year.

The standard Toyota GR Corolla is not even out on the market yet, and the introduction of the Morizo Edition only adds up to the excitement of Toyota's latest hot hatch. We just really hope Toyota Motor Philippines would offer the GR Corolla here. Pretty pretty, please?