Hot Toyota Yaris on the way
New WRC car set to spawn hot hatch. Plus electric Aygo coming
TOYOTA could join the hot hatchback ranks for the first time in more than a generation, if plans to support the firm’s newly announced rally campaign with a high-performance Yaris – previewed in our exclusive image – come to fruition.
It is using its Fiesta rival to re-enter the World Rally Championship in 2017. And Toyota’s European president and CEO wants more than just a marketing tie-up to acknowledge the company’s WRC return.
Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Johan van Zyl said: “It’s no use doing motorsport if you can’t reflect it in your product. From the European side we would like to do something, bring something to market that will reflect our WRC entry.”
Any hot Yaris is likely to be based on the next generation of the car, so it won’t arrive until 2018 at the earliest. Toyota could opt to power the faster edition with a more potent version of the Yaris hybrid’s petrol-electric set-up. Another option is the 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol from the C-HR crossover raced by Toyota’s engineers at the Nürburgring earlier this year – that could produce up to 180bhp.
Development of the hotter Yaris could be conducted under the guise of Toyota’s Gazoo Racing sub-brand. Previously a Japan-only motorsport enterprise, Gazoo was launched in Europe at the recent Paris Motor Show, and a Wrc-influenced Yaris would be the ideal way of building its image in new regions.
Van Zyl told us: “We want to create a feel for motorsport and Gazoo stands for us wanting to learn from motorsport, and for developing excitement around cars.”