Toyota AE86 Revival Rumors...?

Rumors about a revival of that brilliant, rear-drive, lightweight Toyota Corolla Sport coupe that starred in the ‘80s continue to do make the rounds in Tokyo.

Known as the AE86, and sold in Japan variously as the Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno, it was also a hit in Europe as the Corolla GT and sold in North America as the Corolla Sport (in DX, SR5, and GT-S trims, respectively). It’s a car that’s still number one among the toge zoku, Japan’s late night mountain racing tribe thanks to a wonderful, willful chassis that was just born to powerslide.

Senior factions with Toyota have been keen to bring the car back, but the sales and marketing teams have so far torpedoed it because they can’t believe it would sell.

First, of course, Toyota would need a good Corolla-class, rear-drive chassis, but sadly, there aren’t too many of those to go around right now. But still, the speculation about a modern day AE86 just won’t go away…