Toyota Canada to Discontinue Importing Celica Sports Coupe by the End of 2005 Model Year

While the current MR2 offers top-down sun-filled transportation, Toyota has chosen not to market it as a true performance

While it's a sad day for performance car enthusiasts, we can only hope that Toyota has something even more exciting up its sleeve. (Photo: Toyota Canada)

car by only offering it in base 140 horsepower guise, and in the process neglected the very buyer that supported the car's sales in the first place. While the price of MR2 would have increased with an XRS version featuring the brand's superb 180 horsepower 1.8-liter 4-cylinder, it may have made up for the lack of interest by sport-import buyers that the current car experienced.

In the end, both the MR2 and Celica will join the Supra, and a boatload of imported and domestic coupes and convertibles that are no longer offered in North America. While it's a sad day for performance car enthusiasts, we can only hope that Toyota has something even more exciting up its sleeve, possibly with a hybrid-electric drivetrain.