Sometimes products can be made or ruined by the name alone. The Celica has been a solid sports car name for Toyota but naming the AE86 tribute car to a different car just doesn’t make sense.

If they are looking to target the same road racing young market (especially since the AE86 turned into an icon from a cult classic thanks to anime Initial D), then slapping on a Celica badge might not be the best idea. Well sure there’s people’s familiarity with the Celica name but we’re not too sure.

The FT-86 is powered by a 2.0L boxer engine from Subaru that dishes out nearly 200 hp but retains the RWD configuration of the inconic 86.

If there’s one thing Toyota can probably do is to revive Celica using another platform and perhaps some midship goodness with an MR2 revival.

Source: Autocar