Toyota’s return to the World Rally Championship (WRC) with the Yaris WRC may result in a road-going variant as well.
What’s the use of competing in the world’s top rallying competition if you can’t transfer some of the WRC kudos to your production cars too?
Toyota is well aware of that and aims to give VW’s Polo GTI and Ford’s Fiesta ST a run for their money with a performance version for the Yaris supermini. Toyota’s chief engineer for sports vehicle management, Tetsuya Tada, told Motoring that the world’s largest car maker needs a hot hatch.
“We need a real hot hatch for the brand, because we are returning to WRC in 2017. What do you think of the Yaris?” Tada asked rhetorically. While Toyota already sells a 150hp turbocharged Yaris in Japan, called the Vitz GRMN Turbo, the new hot hatch model is likely to be significantly more powerful and available worldwide.
“My job is to create a really exciting hot hatch. There is an order from Akio-san. Rally is the priority,” the executive said, noting that Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda is pushing for the project. This may mean that the Yaris hot-hatch could arrive much sooner than other high-performance models Tetsuya Tada is working on, including the upcoming Supra.
The engineer also said the Yaris hot hatch will have to beat the Fiesta ST and Polo GTI, and the car’s most important part will be the engine which will feature a “big turbo.” An uprated suspension and a more aggressive design are also needed if the Yaris hot-hatch is to compete with the aforementioned rivals.
Note: 2013 Toyota Yaris Hybrid R Concept pictured
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