Toyota May Be Doing A ‘Lancer Evo’ With The Yaris

We admit we did a little squee when we saw Toyota’s teaser hinting at an unashamedly fat-arched hot Yaris, and with a name suggesting four-wheel drive…
Toyota May Be Doing A ‘Lancer Evo’ With The Yaris

Right now Toyota is a bringer of good things to petrolheads. The GT86 is getting a second generation, the Supra is – forget the haters – a damn fine thing to drive across a deserted Welsh county, and it doesn’t seem too long ago that it gave us the bonkers supercharged Yaris GRMN.

Now there’s another hot Yaris coming, and if the teaser is any guide it’s going to have the kind of swollen, rally-spec wheel arches that would give even the most ardent Toyota-basher physical issues of a deeply personal nature. Toyota Europe’s Twitter account has published a shot of part of the rear of something it’s calling the Yaris GR-4. And we’re excited.

The original 'hot' Yaris, the T-Sport of 2001
The original 'hot' Yaris, the T-Sport of 2001

The idea of being excited about a Yaris was almost alien before the arrival of the GRMN. A brief and excellent dalliance with a 1.5-litre T-Sport version back in the early 2000s was all that separated the dependable, safe and quiet Yaris from a mid-priced steam iron. It did a job, mainly for old people, and no one else really took any notice. The GRMN changed everything.

Toyota seems to have recognised that and ramped-up its efforts on the spicy side. There will be three grades of ‘performance’ Yaris when the new one comes out, from the GR Sport – essentially a trim exercise – to a new GRMN and then this. We can only hope that the GR-4 is to the Yaris what the Evo and WRX STI were to the Lancer and Impreza.

The initial signs are excellent. The car in the picture wears GRMN-spec camouflage and kicks out a fabulously oversized wheel arch that screams WRC homologation special. While we acknowledge that the 4 in its name could mean four-cylinder, and that it can’t be easy to fit four-wheel drive into a supermini (although Suzuki does it with the Swift), the fact that the car will make its debut at Rally Australia later this month gives us reason to hope that this is a legend in the making.

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Comments

Tomislav Celić

Oh hell yeah

11/07/2019 - 15:08 |
0 | 0
RWB Dude

Can’t wait

11/07/2019 - 15:33 |
7 | 0
ferrarman11

Toyota is going hard. I’m glad they haven’t forgotten about sports cars like some Japanese companies nowadays

11/07/2019 - 15:45 |
41 | 0

And by some Japanese companies I mean the brand responsible for the Evo…..the “M” word

11/07/2019 - 19:22 |
14 | 1

Still hoping IDx Nismo to make it into production one day… Most likely not gonna happen…

11/08/2019 - 17:32 |
0 | 0
......

Big thumbs up !
Keep it going Toyota

11/07/2019 - 15:48 |
3 | 0
Roadduck414

OH YES!

11/07/2019 - 16:49 |
0 | 0
Ali Mahfooz

And then they’ll kill it and bring it back as a high riding electric SUV/crossover

11/07/2019 - 16:57 |
10 | 2
ᴶᵘˢᵗᴬᴿᵃⁿᵈᵒá

In reply to by Ali Mahfooz

I’ve been waiting for this comment…. Guess I was the late one here

11/09/2019 - 10:22 |
1 | 0
Niko Ala-Rämi 🇫🇮

First thing I read was ‘lancer evo’ my heart jumped

11/07/2019 - 17:15 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

Just doing the work Mitsubishi was supposed to do…

11/07/2019 - 17:26 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

A small car doesnt need much to scoot. A 1.5T with 200hp would do it. Call it the Yaris TRD though.

11/07/2019 - 17:42 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Imagine a lightweight 300hp Yaris…
just imagine…
but probably won’t happen, most I’m guessing is 260hp.

11/07/2019 - 17:45 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

260hp would even be amazing in a car this small. The Pulsar GTIR is faster than a modern sti with 220hp simply due to it’s much less weight.

11/07/2019 - 22:55 |
2 | 1