What better way for Toyota to cash in on the success of the JTCC than to jam a 3S-GE into a AE101 Corolla/Ceres sedan?
Extremely slammed ride height, 19-inch wheels, T-wings
the 2.0L Super Tourer category certainly left its mark on the tuning scene through the 1990s. In Japan the popularity of the series peaked at around 1996 and quite early on Toyota was well aware of the marketing potential of the Japanese version of the Super Tourers, the JTCC, and offered a TRD special model in October of 1994. These were no ordinary TRD parts bin specials. The plan was to produce a road going version of the JTCC Corolla which meant slotting in the 400cc bigger 3S-GE engine and S54 gearbox from the ST202 Celica SS-II which produced 180hp and 19.5kg/m, a decent jump over the standard Corolla GTs 160hp and 16.5kg/m.
The TRD 2000 shared center stage with the TRD 3000GT at the 1994 Tokyo Auto Salon and was well received being able to draw some attention away from its bigger and more powerful brother. Only 99 were originally planned to be made, of which only 14 were eventually sold with 12 being Corollas and only 2(!) were Ceres hardtops! At a time when small capacity boy racer style front wheel drive cars were popular, the TRD 2000 was a dream come true. However, at the 3,350,000 JPY asking price (which was a good 1,624,000 JPY over the base car), it was always going to be difficult to move one let alone 99 to all but the most die hard of JTCC fans. To put that price into perspective, the ST205 Celica GT-Four sold for 3,150,000 JPY in 1994 at a time when that model was enjoying considerable popularity with Toyota winning WRC drivers and manufacturers titles in 93 and 94.
http://www.7tune.com/trd-2000/
