The Toyota GR86 Yuzu Edition Is A Tribute To A Brand You Forgot About

We’re still not over the demise of the wonderful little Toyota GR86 in the European market, so it’s with more than a hint of jealousy that we keep a close eye on what’s going on with the model in parts of the world where it’s still sold.

One of those places is North America, where Toyota has just unveiled a new special edition for the 2026 model year (which, with American model years being as confusing as they are, will probably start next week).

It’s dubbed the Yuzu Edition, and it’s a tribute to a car from a brand you’ve probably already forgotten about if you’re in North America and might not even have heard of if you’re anywhere else.

That car is the Scion FR-S, which was the name the original GT86 was first sold under in North America. Scion, in case you’d already forgotten (and we wouldn’t necessarily blame you), was a short-lived North America-only Toyota sub-brand aimed specifically at younger buyers, lasting from 2003 to 2016.

Most of its cars were simply rebadgings of Toyotas that otherwise weren’t available in North America, like the iQ and original Urban Cruiser, but it was also the badge under which the first-gen GT86 was originally sold alongside its Subaru BRZ twin.

In 2015, the FR-S received a special edition named the Release Series 1.0, which came in the same shade of Yuzu Yellow as this new GR86 special edition, and it’s that car specifically that the Yuzu Edition nods towards.

In addition to the special colour, the Yuzu Edition gets a few other goodies as standard: Sachs dampers, Brembo brakes, 18-inch matte black wheels and lashings of yellow in the interior. Most intriguingly, buying one nets you a free year’s membership to NASA. No, not that NASA – rather, the National Auto Sport Association, which organises track days and club-level race series across the US.

Buyers can also throw in a couple of other extras, like the mildly Max Power-ish bodykit in these images and a cat-back exhaust. Otherwise, it’s the standard GR86 setup of a 2.4-litre flat-four sending 228bhp and 184lb ft to the back wheels by way of either a six-speed manual or automatic.

Pricing’s yet to be confirmed, but Toyota North America is only doing 860 Yuzu Editions, which will arrive in dealerships in something it calls ‘the fall’.