The 2021 Toyota GR Yaris has taken less than one week to sell out in Australia, proving just how much enthusiasts Down Under love a good hot hatch.
Two weeks ago, Toyota Australia announced that the first 1,000 units of the GR Yaris heading to local shores would launch with an introductory driveaway price of AU$39,950 (US$28,684). That represents a saving of approximately AU$14,000 (US$10,061) over the hatch’s recommended retail price of AU$49,500 (US$35,541) which is before any on-road costs.
Toyota Australia is funding the discount as a way to generate interest in the GR performance brand in the local market. The company through it would take 12-18 months for the first 1,000 units to be sold. In the end, it took a mere six days, and 560 of those orders were placed in the first 24 hours after the order books opened.
It remains to be seen how many of these orders have been placed by private buyers and how many come from dealerships.
With the first 1,000 units now allocated, Toyota has confirmed it will offer another 100 units for pre-orders with an AU$44,950 (US$32,265) driveaway price. While that’s an extra AU$5,000 (US$3,589), it is still a saving of approximately AU$10,000 (US$7,178).
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“We deliberately set out to make GR Yaris attainable for sports-car fans – and I’d have to say that even we were a little surprised at how quickly the first Toyota sports car in more than 20 years ignited the market,” Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley told Car Advice.
“At the new price, GR Yaris continues to have a significant price advantage over equivalent performance cars costing more than AU$50,000. It also remains keenly competitive against conventional hot hatches, while having a decided (sic) performance advantage.”
Toyota Australia has yet to open order books for the limited-run GR Yaris Rallye variant that will be capped at 250 units for 2021 and includes front and rear limited-slip differentials.
