Toyota’s Gazoo Racing Could Be Working On Tuned 86 And Yaris

If new trademarks are any indication, Gazoo Racing could soon get its hands on a number of Toyota models and work its magic.

According to Autocar, Toyota’s racing sub-brand has trademarked the GR moniker and intends to use it on tuned versions of the popular 86 coupe and Yaris supermini.

Gazoo has already created the thrilling Yaris GRMN compact hot hatch and its next foray into the Yaris will likely be a more accessible model that’s not a limited run and will be sold exclusively in Europe and the UK.

As for a tuned 86 from Gazoo, it could finally silence the critics who have long proclaimed that the sports car needs more power. Or maybe not.

The current-generation 86 is thought to be approaching the end of its lifecycle and a second-generation model is in the works. The timing of these trademarks suggests that the Gazoo-tuned 86 could be based around the second-gen car rather than the current model. With that being said, there’s a slight chance a punchier 86 could act as a send-off for the coupe.

Whatever the case may be, the Gazoo-tuned 86 and new Yaris will benefit from a number of performance modifications. For the 86, work will inevitably be done on the 2.0-liter four-cylinder flat-four to increase horsepower and torque. However, it is unlikely that the sports car will adopt forced induction.

As for the next Gazoo Yaris, it may feature the same 1.8-liter supercharged four-cylinder as the GRMN, but probably deliver less than that model’s 209 hp.

Apart from engine output, which is mere speculation right now, expect the performance sub-brand’s engineers to tune the chassis of both models in order to provide even sportier driving characteristics.