Autoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.A Rally LegendThe Toyota Celica may have started out as a Japanese Mustang of sorts, but like the Ford, it established a great racing career. But instead of taking it to the track, the Celica took its talents to the rally stages and won.It entered the World Rally Championship in 1976 and bagged several wins in the coming years. Amazingly, it won the Safari Rally three times in a row from 1984 to 1986, and that's despite the fact that it wasn't even all-wheel drive at the time. Greater success would come in the '90s, with Carlos Sainz winning the title in a GT-Four in 1990 and 1992, Juha Kankkunen in 1993, and Didier Auriol in 1994.ToyotaStaging a ComebackIt's no secret that the Celica is coming back. It's been confirmed by just about everyone at Toyota, and it's only a matter of time before the world reveal. 1993 champ Kankkunen was also possibly heavily involved in the vehicle's development, as Akio Toyoda said in a Toyota Times interview: "He was champion four times in the Celica. Now you can all have a think about why I'm using Kankkunen so much. See if you can guess!"AdvertisementAdvertisementIf anything, that makes us more excited about the car's revival. We already know it won't be in the same mold as the Honda Prelude, so Celica fans can breathe a sigh of relief there. It's expected to be launched carrying a GR badge, and will likely use the new G20E turbo engine that Toyota has been cooking for quite some time already.You_SuiKoyoAZ/XBack to Rallying?But in a more recent update, it appears that the Celica will also be coming back to its old stomping grounds of the World Rally Championship. Carlos Sainz's long-time co-driver Luis Moya revealed some pretty huge news about Toyota's 2027 WRC campaign. Possibly by accident, he said that next year's car will be the Celica.Translated from Spanish by Rally Journal, the rally veteran said, "We need to be patient about next year. At the moment, only a few teams have been confirmed, so we have to wait and see what happens. Next year will be a bit of a dull year, but we already know that the Toyota team is going to have a Celica." Not only that, he added, "They are going to have a Celica as their Rally1 car, and they will have a Rally2 car as well."Toyota Celica GT-Four in Castrol liveryToyotaQuite the BombshellHow Moya obtained the information is unknown, but the man is a credible source in the world of rallying nonetheless. If this is true, we might actually see the Celica just before the end of the year or early 2027. A new season of the WRC typically kicks off in January, and we could see it in competition form there.AdvertisementAdvertisementIt's either that or Toyota will swap it with the faithful and successful GR Yaris halfway through the 2027 season. Either way, the new Celica is taking shape, and we're all here for it.Márcio PereiraThis story was originally published by Autoblog on Sep 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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