Along with the recent launch of their Yaris WRC rally car, Toyota has now confirmed the imminent arrival of a performance oriented version of their small hatch, which should go into direct competition with Renault Clio RS, Peugeot 208 GTI, and Ford Fiesta ST.
There’s little else besides the brief announcement made over Toyota Europe’s Twitter account and the accompanying sketch, depicting a two-door hatch with a pronounced air inlets up front, a dual tone exterior finish, big alloys, and a roof spoiler.
As for power, it’s still left ambiguous, and an Autocar UK report indicates that the expected name for the Toyota hot hatch to be the Yaris Gazoo, after their motorsports division, who are also responsible for the said WRC car.
If the upcoming Yaris Gazoo is anything like the rally racer, a healthy amount of poke and some very lively handling can be expected with the 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine in the WRC-spec car producing 280kW and 426Nm.
It’s possible too that Toyota will choose to grow the Gazoo brand starting with the hot Yaris, slowly proliferating to more models much like BMW M and Mercedes-AMG, which could be tied to serial a motorsport variant with each new generation like Honda with their Type R versions.
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