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. In 1986, the six-cylinder Celica Supra variant was spun off as a separate model, becoming simply the Supra. Variable valve timing came in certain Japanese models starting from December 1997 and became standard in all models from the 2000 model year. 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.
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The first three generations of North American market Celicas were powered by variants of Toyota's R series engine.
However, some journalists thought it was based on the Corona due to some shared mechanical parts. 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. In 1973, Toyota coined the term Liftback to describe the Celica fastback hatchback, and used the name Liftback GT for the North American market. Produced across seven generations, the Celica was powered by various four-cylinder engines, and bodystyles included convertibles, liftbacks, coupés and notchback coupés. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to the Toyota Corolla Store dealer chain. The Celica name derives from the Latin word coelica meaning "heavenly" or "celestial". The Toyota Celica ( Japanese: トヨタ セリカ) / ˈ s ɛ l ɪ k ə/ or / s ɛ ˈ l iː k ə/ is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 to 2006.