Toyota Celica
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The Toyota Celica name has been applied to a series of popular sports cars made by the Japanese company Toyota. The name is derived from the Latin word célico (IPA ['θeliko]) meaning "from the heavens" or "celestial".
Through all generations, Celicas have been built around Toyota's high-performance inline-4 engines, although some Celicas are powered by more economical, lower performance 4-cylinders. The most significant change occurred in 1986, when the car's drive layout was changed from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive. During the first three generations, American market Celicas were powered by various versions of Toyota's R series engines. A Four wheel drive turbocharged model (designated All-trac in the US or GT-Four in Japan and Europe) was produced from 1986 to 1999. Variable Valve Timing came in late 1997 Japanese models, and become standard in all models from 2000 on. Through seven generations, the model has gone through many revisions and design forks, including the Toyota Celica Supra (later known as the Toyota Supra). The Celica was available as notchback and liftback coupes, as well as a convertible.
[edit] Timeline
- 1970 - Celica LT, ST, GT introduced
- 1972 - Celica GTV introduced, first World Rally Championship (WRC) in RAC Rally
- 1976 - Celica wins Motor Trend Import Car of the Year
- 1976 - Celica introduced in liftback form; 1-millionth Celica produced in June 1977
- 1978 - Second generation Celica introduced; wins Motor Trend Import Car of the Year
- 1979 - Sunchaser semi-convertible introduced.
- 1981 - Sunchaser production ended.
- 1982 - Third generation introduced.
- 1984 - Celica GT-S among Consumer's Digest "Best Buys" and Car and Driver Ten Best Cars
- 1985 - First full convertible version produced
- 1986 - Fourth generation; front wheel drive introduced in late 1985, followed by GT-Four in October 1986
- 1987 - New-generation convertible introduced
- 1988 - All-Trac/GT-Four model for export
- 1990 - Fifth generation introduced. Spaniard Carlos Sainz driving ST165 GT-Four became World Rally Champion (WRC).
- 1992 - Carlos Sainz won his second WRC title with ST185 GT-Four
- 1993 - Last year of the GT-S, All-trac Turbo. Juha Kankkunen won his 4th WRC title, driving ST185 GT-Four.
- 1994 - Sixth generation introduced. Didier Auriol won WRC title with ST185 GT-Four.
- 1995 - New generation convertible produced. Celica and Supra were dropped from the Canadian market.
- 1997 - "Most Reliable Used Vehicles, MYs '89-'95" J.D. Power & Associates
- 1999 - Coupe discontinued
- 2000 - Seventh generation Celica is introduced, and the Celica returns to Canada after a 5-year hiatus.
- 2001 - US Consumer Reports rates Celica GT-S "Best Sports Coupe" "Most Wanted Sport Coupe Under $30,000" Edmunds.com
- 2002 - US Consumer Reports "Most Reliable Sporty Car"; Edmunds.com "Most Wanted Sport Coupe - - Under $30,000"
- 2005 - Celica discontinued in North America and Australia. Still in production in Japan.
- 2006 - Toyota ended the production of the 7th generation Celica in Japan.
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