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Digital Toyota GR HiAce Widebody Van Looks Like Gazoo Racing for Entire Families

Since Toyota unveiled the latest member of the bespoke, range-topping Gazoo Racing family, virtual automotive artists have been on GR Corolla fire. Sometimes for the better, other times with crazy ideas.
Toyota GR HiAce widebody rendering by sugardesign_1 16 photos
Photo: sugardesign_1 / Instagram
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The ailing North American Hot Hatch niche got a wide, 300-horsepower adrenaline shot just recently when Toyota unveiled the eagerly-expected 2023 GR Corolla. It comes with aggressive looks, the same engine as the GR Yaris but massaged for more ponies, GR-Four all-wheel drive, and a purist’s six-speed manual transmission. Naturally, the entire world took notice.

Honda, for example, instantly sent a camouflaged 2023 Civic Type R for a quick spin around Japan’s Suzuka and snatched an all-new record for front-wheel-drive cars. Over in the virtual realm, automotive content creators have made the GR Corolla their new CGI darling – for both the right and wrong reasons.

Some went down the traditional route of coming up with new body styles (three-door, SW, sedan, etc.) while others did more unspeakable things – such as hoaxing it into becoming a Malaise supermini! Sugar Chow, the pixel master better known as sugardesign_1 on social media, might be one of the biggest GR fans out there, quite literally.

As such, he did not tamper with the actual 2023 GR Corolla and instead just took inspiration from its inherent family-oriented five-door hatchback practicality. And he also abandoned his quest of “Touring the world!” for a track moment, delivering the next Gazoo Racing flagship with imaginative CGI poise: Toyota’s GR HiAce! Yep, the famous light commercial vehicle that has seen quite a bit of astonishing conversions during its long life has now become the ultimate track-side people hauler.

The idea of a widebody GR HiAce is hilarious, indeed, but do remember the latest entry in the series – the H300 sixth-generation – does come with stuff that would make a regular sports car more than proud, such as rear-wheel drive and a feisty 3.5-liter V6 that is OEM-capable of 278 horsepower. That is more than what a GR Yaris has under the hood.


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Editor's note: Gallery includes official images of H300 Toyota HiAce.

About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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