2023 Toyota GR Corolla customer allocation plans in Australia revealed

Toyota Australia says it will let individual dealers decide how to allocate the extremely limited number of Toyota GR Corolla hot hatches due to roll into showrooms from next month – rather than an online ballot or a ‘first-past-the-post’ ordering system.

As hot hatch fans in the queue for the GR Corolla in New Zealand face a ballot – and will have their names plucked at random – in Australia Toyota dealers will decide which customers get a car.

Just 500 examples of the highly-anticipated Toyota GR Corolla are coming to Australia in the first 12 months on sale – and they must be distributed across 232 dealers.

This equates to roughly two Toyota GR Corolla hot hatches per Toyota dealer in Australia, however the company says some showrooms may only get one example.

“Every dealer will get at least one car,” said the sales and marketing boss of Toyota Australia, Sean Hanley.

This means some larger dealers may get two or possibly three cars to distribute among their customers.

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Drive understands some Toyota dealers are holding more than two-dozen orders; the company says it hopes to ramp up the next production run next year.

Originally, Toyota Australia hinted it would prioritise customers who already own a Toyota GR Yaris or Toyota GR Supra for the first allocation of cars.

However, Toyota Australia has since clarified that it would like the first allocation of Toyota GR Corolla cars to be sold to loyal Toyota buyers – not resellers looking to make a quick buck.

“We have asked our dealers to look at customer loyalty … across the Toyota brand. They don’t necessarily have to have owned a GR performance product before,” said Mr Hanley.

“The responsibility for the customer experience and the customer management resides totally with the dealer.”

MORE: Toyota GR performance car range complete with GR86, Corolla, Yaris and Supra, says chief engineer

Meanwhile, Toyota Australia says almost all orders for the Toyota GR Yaris – the pint-sized sibling to the Toyota GR Corolla – have been fulfilled and only a handful of outstanding orders remain.

“We have cleared the backlog of orders for GR Yaris or are very close to doing so,” said Mr Hanley. “That car will continue to be sold alongside (the) GR Corolla.”

The Toyota GR Corolla – and the Toyota GR Yaris with which is shares its high-performance mechanicals – is powered by the world’s most powerful three-cylinder engine (220kW/370Nm) paired to a six-speed manual gearbox and all-wheel drive.