Yaris gets the heat treatment

AToyota Yaris that will rival the output of the Volkswagen Polo GTI and Ford Fiesta ST? Ha! Good one!

No wait; it’s true. Well, we think it’s true.

NowToyota is making its comeback in the World Rally Championship, a “street” version of the Yaris WRC competition car is almost a given. And at the Geneva motor show in March, it will be showing one off in the metal.

What’s more, it’s been developed by the in- house team that brought us the Toyota 86 sports coupe, working alongside the recently launched Gazoo Racing performance division of the Japanese manufacturer. Which is surely no bad thing.

Images show the “hot” Yaris — which is based on a threedoor version our market doesn’t receive — as featuring updated front and rear bumpers, a boot spoiler and a rear diffuser with an exhaust pipe through the middle. The big guards and wings of the gravel monster version have, obviously, been discarded for the civilian model.

There’s no word yet on power figures, but it’s hoped the hot hatch will walk the talk. The Fiesta ST and Polo GTi have been mentioned as benchmarks, along with Francophile pocket rockets, the Peugeot 208 GTI and Renault Clio RS.

With the Yaris in dire need of an excitement injection — and a brand- new Suzuki Swift on the horizon — it’d be great if Toyota New Zealand saw red momentarily and brought the diminutive hatch here.

But there is no word yet on whether the street fighter Yaris ( that’s not its official name, but it would be a good start) will be available as a right- hand drive model. Without parts to support a three- door version available in New Zealand either, odds are we won’t see it here.