What Does Gazoo Mean In Toyota's Gazoo Racing?

No, Boomers, it doesn't have anything to do with a tiny green alien who found himself banished to Bedrock on "The Flintstones." Gazoo Racing is the motorsports and performance division of Toyota, and it lends its engineering expertise to road cars and racing cars alike. It also supports older models by bringing back even more vintage parts for restorers.

So you could say Gazoo Racing is comparable to the likes of Mercedes-Benz' AMG, Nissan's Nismo, Dodge's SRT, Hyundai's N, and the whole host of go-fast speed shops officially integrated with automaker operations. Of course, one difference is that only Toyota named its motorsports group after a website.

Launched in 1998 to provide "ever-better" cars to customers, the website took its name from a combination of "ga," which is Japanese for "picture" and the English word "zoo." So the site was like a digital zoo where the cars were the animals on display. This was a big deal back in the 1990s before the Internet took over the world. As the years went by, that concept, and the word "Gazoo," came to mean a special kind of garage for Toyota products, one Toyota says is "a very intimate place where people work together to improve the smallest details, with the aim of delivering ever-better cars and services for each customer, in each garage." 

Given the digital roots of the word, it's no surprise to discover that Gazoo Racing wasn't officially launched until 2007, when it was founded by Toyota president Akio Toyoda and the company's top test driver, Hiromu Naruse. And at first, it was merely part of the company's three-pronged approach to motorsports that also counted Toyota Racing and Lexus Racing among its stable. Toyota didn't consolidate all three under the Gazoo Racing umbrella until 2015.

A particular focus for Toyota's motorsports division, before and after that point, was endurance racing — where long distances and non-stop driving really put the automaker's engineering to the test. For example, Toyota first participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1985, captured its first podium finish seven years later, and won the event outright in 2018 — the first of five victories in a row at the iconic race. Gazoo Racing has built on that kind of success to win multiple manufacturer's and driver's trophies in the FIA's World Endurance Championship. This includes taking home another championship just last year.

Another key showcase for Gazoo Racing is another motorsports series with a sharp focus on durability, the World Rally Championship, and Toyota has seen its share of success here, too: It earned its 103rd WRC victory this year and now sit on top of the all-time WRC leaderboard for most wins by a manufacturer.

If you want a taste of Toyota's track-friendly engineering efforts for yourself, Gazoo Racing has given its seal of approval to three current offerings in the automaker's lineup. The entry point? The Toyota GR86 sports coupe that's priced from $30,400 (not counting $1,195 in destination charges).

Sure, it shares some of its basics with the Subaru BRZ — like its 2.4-liter boxer engine — but it also gets special treatment from Gazoo Racing for an even more enthusiastic driving experience. One highlight is the GR86's chassis/suspension tuning, which can leverage a Torsen limited-slip differential, Sachs dampers, and Brembo brakes for hotter handling. The 2026 model year also will see the debut of a new special edition that we called a throwback to the best Scion FR-S (the original name of the GR86).

Next up is the Toyota GR Corolla, the brand's entry in the hot-hatch sweepstakes. New this year are a retuned suspension, an extra 22 pound-feet of torque, and a paddle-shifted eight-speed automatic that refines the unrefined. Backed by 300 horses and the upgraded 295 lb-ft of torque, the GR Corolla opens at $39,160 before applying the $1,195 destination charge.

The apex predator in the family is the Toyota GR Supra, another machine made in a partnership setting, this time with BMW. Unfortunately, those BMW underpinnings, despite delivering undeniably impressive performance, turned off many potential customers. But the new Supra will actually be a Toyota, not a reskinned model from the Bayerische Motoren Werke.