Toyota GR Yaris

Lore & Background

When the XP210 Yaris hatchback was developed, Toyota decided to offer it only in a five-door bodywork due to diminishing popularity of three-door hatchbacks. This posed a problem for Toyota's WRC team, which felt only a three-door hatch was suitable for competition. Despite the expense of developing a limited-production performance model, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda authorized the development of the GR Yaris, later describing it as a passion project stemming from a desire to build a sports car purely of Toyota's own design, unlike the jointly developed 86 or GR Supra.

To meet WRC homologation rules, Toyota needed to produce at least 2,500 units in a continuous 12-month period, though the company claims 25,000. The Gazoo Racing WRT team, led by team principal and four-time WRC champion Tommi Mäkinen, was heavily involved in the design. The challenge was to build a car capable of being equipped for WRC events while remaining suitable for daily driving. The team decided on a three-door hatchback with four-wheel drive, a wider rear track, and a double wishbone suspension layout, requiring the car to be built on a combination of the standard Yaris' GA-B front architecture and the GA-C rear platform used by the Corolla. To save weight, aluminium is used for the bonnet, boot lid, and door panels, and carbon fibre-reinforced plastic for the roof panel.

The GR Yaris was unveiled at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon and is sold in Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Mexico, Argentina, Taiwan, and the Middle East. It has not been offered in the United States or Canada; analysts attribute this to low probable sales volume, the discontinuation of the standard Yaris in those markets, and a lack of commonality with the region's most recent Yaris, which was a rebadged Mazda2. Both regions received the larger, five-door GR Corolla in 2022 for the 2023 model year instead.

Reader's Guide

The GR Yaris is significant as a homologation special developed to keep Toyota represented in the World Rally Championship, authorized by CEO Akio Toyoda as a passion project. Its design involved extensive collaboration between Gazoo Racing and the WRC team led by Tommi Mäkinen, with chief engineer Naohiko Saito accommodating 90 percent of the rally team's design requests. The car's unique construction—combining the front of the Yaris' GA-B platform with the rear of the Corolla's GA-C platform—allowed for four-wheel drive and a double wishbone rear suspension, features not found on the standard five-door Yaris. The GR Yaris also introduced the G16E-GTS three-cylinder turbocharged engine, which was later upgraded in the 2024 facelift to produce 224 kW. The car spawned several variants, including the front-wheel-drive GR Yaris RS for Japan, the lightweight RC grade for competition use, and the limited-production GRMN Yaris with increased torque and weight reduction. The 2024 facelift added an 8-speed automatic transmission option and Formula One-style paddle-shifters. The GR Yaris established a performance benchmark in the compact rally-inspired segment and directly led to the larger GR Corolla for markets that did not receive the GR Yaris.

Did You Know?

• The GR Yaris uses a combination of the Yaris' GA-B front platform and the Corolla's GA-C rear platform.
• The roof panel is made of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic formed using the sheet moulding compound method.
• The GR Yaris RS for Japan is front-wheel drive and uses a naturally aspirated 1.5-litre engine with a CVT.
• The 2024 facelift introduced an 8-speed automatic transmission with Formula One-style paddle-shifters.