► Mid-engine GR Yaris concept car revealed
► 2.0-litre engine in the works
► Set to participate in Japanese racing series
The Toyota GR Yaris is one of our favourite hot hatches and last year’s update brought several key upgrades, but can you improve further on the already excellent? Toyota’s Gazoo Racing division reckons so.
This is the GR Yaris M concept – a reimagined version of the coveted Toyota GR Yaris hot hatch with its engine mounted mid car, rather than in the front.
Still under development, the engine itself has also been uprated: a 2.0-litre in-line four cylinder, as opposed to the 1.6-litre in-line three of the current road car. So, more power and more speed on the way, but a mid-mounting should also improve the car’s weight balance and thus its handling characteristics. Enticing stuff.
Why the upgrade? Bit of a ‘why not?’, really. Toyota says it wants to explore the potential of the GR Yaris by entering the M Concept into Japan’s Super Taikyu– a multi-class, Pro/Am racing series.
It wouldn’t be the marque’s first foray into the Super Taikyu, as a GR edition of the Corolla has previously been entered, but Toyota are going to the extremes in development this time.
According to the manufacturer, the GR Yaris M Concept is currently under ‘driver-first’ development, throughout which concept examples are driven to death and then repaired repeatedly until the perfect example has been produced.
A development mule of the GR Yaris M Concept is expected to take part in a few Super Taikyu races later this year.
Toyota Aygo Crazy
If the bigger-engine-in-the-middle-of-a-dinky-Toyota-hatch narrative sounds familiar, then it’s because Toyota has been at this lark before. Back in 2008, a reimagined edition of the Aygo was unveiled, featuring a turbocharged engine plucked from the Celica and the MR2, known as the Toyota Aygo Crazy.
The 1.8 VVT-I engine produced 200bhp – a 132bhp bump over the Aygo’s regular motor – but more interestingly, it was mounted in the middle of the car, turning the Aygo into a Japanese take on the Renault Clio V6.
It was rear-wheel drive, featured the gearbox from the MR2, and Toyota claimed at the time that the Aygo Crazy would be able to knock off 0-62mph in 5.2 seconds. Sadly the model never emerged past the ‘crazy’ one-off concept phase. Hopefully, in the case of the GR Yaris M Concept, Toyota will take a leaf out of Renault’s book and allow people to take a few home.
The Toyota GR Yaris M Concept will be on display at the Tokyo Auto Salon 2025, 10 Jan – 12 Jan.