Toyota Boss Says A Hot Aygo X Gazoo Racing Is Possible But Not In The Cards

This independent illustration was made by Thanos Pappas for Carscoops and is neither related to nor endorsed by Toyota.

The Toyota Aygo X debuted yesterday as an urban crossover and, unsurprisingly for a city car, it comes fitted with a tiny naturally aspirated 1.0-liter engine. However, being based on the GA-B platform the car has plenty of potential in terms of performance, feeding rumors for a spiced-up version developed by Gazoo Racing.

Speaking for the Aygo X, Andrea Carlucci, vice president of Toyota Europe, said to Autocar: “This car may deserve looking at the chassis, the body rigidity – the potential in making a more sporty version”.

Possible But Not In The Cards

However, hot hatch fans shouldn’t get too excited as the high-ranked official clarified such a version is not currently in the cards: “Let’s be clear: it’s not in our plans, but you will discover yourself and maybe comment to help us understand how much potential you see in that”, concluding on a promising “Never say never”.

In other words, a GR-branded Toyota Aygo X could happen, but only if there is enough demand for a sporty variant to make the investment worth it. Gazoo Racing has a wide naming strategy including the GR Parts (accessories), GR Sport (entry-level sports models), GR (serious sports models), and GRMN (extreme sports models), so there are plenty of options for the Aygo X.

Given that the rally-bred GR Yaris is based on a custom platform merging elements from the GA-B and the GA-C, there’s zero chances that the Aygo X will inherit its big brother’s turbocharged 1.6-liter three-cylinder or the GR-Four all-wheel-drive system. After all, it is a city car with a curb weight of 940 kg (2,072 pounds) so it doesn’t really need that much power. The possibility of a hybrid powertrain has also been ruled out for cost- and weight-saving reasons.

For this speculative render, we added a new set of wheels, huge brakes with red-painted calipers, plus a few sporty touches like an aggressive front bumper and the GR badge on the front fenders. We also lowered the suspension for a more planted look. Image Credit: Thanos Pappas

Our guess is that Toyota could introduce an Aygo X GR-Sport fitted with the 1.5-liter VVT-i gasoline engine that is already found under the bonnet of the Yaris and Yaris Cross, which are based on a version of the same GA-B architecture as the Aygo X. In the aforementioned models, the mill produces a respectable 123 hp (92 kW / 125 PS) and 145 Nm (106 lb-ft) of torque, mated with a six-speed manual gearbox. This power would be more than enough for a lightweight A-Segment vehicle, offering significantly improved performance over the standard 1.0-liter three-cylinder which only makes 71 hp (53 kW / 72 PS) and 93 Nm (68.6 lb-ft) of torque.

What is more important than power is the driving dynamics, so a Gazoo Racing tune for the suspension, chassis, and steering alongside beefier brakes and wider tires would transform the Aygo X into a tiny hot hatch. As you can see from the speculative rendering we created, a possible GR Aygo or a lesser Aygo X GR-Sport could get a series of styling updates communicating the added performance.

Of course, nothing is certain at this point but if a GR-branded Aygo X gets green-lighted for production, it will be one of the few sporty cars in the segment next to the Hyundai i10 N-Line and the VW Up! GTI.

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