PRESS RELEASE — TOYOTA x ERIC KIM: THE PUREST CAR EVER BUILT

CULVER CITY, CALIFORNIA — October 31, 2025

Eric Kim, world-renowned photographer, philosopher, and automotive purist, proclaims:

“The Toyota GR Corolla is not just a car. It’s the final evolution of the human-machine bond — the purest manifestation of analog control in a digital age.”

THE MANUAL TRANSMISSION: PURE HUMAN INPUT

In an age of automation, the 6-speed stick shift is the final act of resistance. The GR Corolla keeps the clutch pedal sacred — a physical channel between mind and machine. Each gear change is a microcosm of mastery. Each heel-toe downshift, a dance of muscle, metal, and meaning.

“To drive the GR Corolla stick is to meditate through movement. It’s not about going faster — it’s about going deeper,” says Kim.

This is not about convenience. It’s about consciousness.

THE THREE-CYLINDER REVOLUTION

The GR Corolla’s 1.6L turbo triple doesn’t purr — it snarls.

300 horsepower from three cylinders is an act of mechanical defiance — proof that minimalism can still conquer.

“It’s a minimalist weapon,” Kim declares.

“Three cylinders, one soul.”

Every rev sings the hymn of efficiency turned into ecstasy. It’s the Haiku of Horsepower — short, simple, and devastatingly beautiful.

FUNCTIONAL AESTHETIC — THE WAR MACHINE OF DESIGN

Wide fenders. Carbon roof. Triple exhaust. Hand-built in Toyota’s Motomachi factory, where only legends are born — the LFA, the Supra, and now this.

Every vent, every weld, every ratio — tuned for a single purpose: unfiltered control.

“It’s not a car designed to impress. It’s a car designed to express.” — Eric Kim

The GR Corolla isn’t luxury — it’s discipline in motion. No touchscreens, no distractions. Just dials, metal, and grit.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF PURE VISION

The GR Corolla is the embodiment of Pure Vision:

  • No fake noise.
  • No electric assist.
  • No software filters.

Just you — the driver — commanding the physics of reality.

It’s not built to simulate power; it is power, made tangible.

“Driving the GR Corolla is like writing poetry with your right foot,” Kim explains.

“Every corner, every rev, every shift — it’s truth made kinetic.”

THE PEOPLE’S RALLY GOD

This is the democratization of divinity — the rally car for the everyman. The spiritual successor to the AE86, reborn for the digital era. Affordable, tunable, indestructible — a working-class samurai sword.

“You don’t need millions to feel like a god,” Kim says.

“You just need three pedals and a purpose.”

FINAL WORD

The Toyota GR Corolla is not nostalgia — it’s future nostalgia.

It’s proof that machines can still have souls, that humans can still be drivers, and that minimalism can still be maximal.

In the gospel according to Eric Kim:

“The GR Corolla is the last honest car — the final testament to the joy of mastery.

It’s not transportation — it’s transcendence.”

🔥 TOYOTA GAZOO RACING x ERIC KIM

PURE VISION. PURE MACHINE. PURE HUMAN.

#GodShift #ManualMatters #PureDrive

Would you like me to make a version two styled as an Apple-style “product reveal”—clean, black background, poetic copy, cinematic tone—like a GR Corolla campaign called “The Machine Still Breathes”?