But Toyota Celica in USA

japanese cars model: Celica

The Toyota Celica is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 to 2006. The Celica name derives from the Latin word coelica meaning “heavenly” or “celestial”. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to the Toyota Corolla Store dealer chain.

Produced across seven generations, the Celica was powered by various four-cylinder engines, and bodystyles included convertibles, liftbacks, coupés and notchback coupés.

In 1973, Toyota coined the term Liftback to describe the Celica fastback hatchback, and used the name Liftback GT for the North American market.

Like the Ford Mustang, the Celica concept was to create a sports car by attaching a coupe body to the chassis and mechanicals from a high volume sedan, in this case the Toyota Carina. However, some magazines thought it was based on the Corona due to some shared mechanical parts.

The first three generations of North American market Celicas were powered by variants of Toyota’s R series engine. In August 1985, the car’s drive layout was changed from rear-wheel drive to front-wheel drive, and all-wheel drive turbocharged models were offered from 1986 to 1999. Variable valve timing came in certain Japanese models starting from December 1997 and became standard in all models from the 2000 model year. The six-cylinder Celica Supra variant was later spun off as a separate models, becoming simply the Supra. Lightly altered versions of the Celica were also sold through as the Corona Coupé through the Toyopet dealer network in the 1980s and as the Toyota Curren through the Vista network in the 1990s.

The Toyota Celica Liftback GT won Motor Trend Car of the Year (Imported Vehicle) in 1976.