Toyota is said to be accelerating the development of an eight-speed automatic transmission for the GR Yaris hot hatch as it looks to make the most of burgeoning demand for the pocket rocket.
As CarScoops revealed back in March, the carmaker is currently testing a GR Yaris with an eight-speed automatic in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally Challenge. Toyota vice chairman Shigeru Hayakawa is serving as a development test driver and has already encountered some issues with the car that need to be sorted.
According to CarWatch, Hayakawa was competing in a gravel stage with the car and downshifted from third gear to second gear but when re-accelerating, the car didn’t respond as well as it should have. This prompted Toyota to make some adjustments to the eight-speed auto.
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The eight-speed automatic version of the GR Yaris is expected to include paddle shifters but those looking for slightly more involvement will also be able to use the shift lever. As with a proper rally car, Toyota has designed this shifter to change up a gear when pulled towards the driver and to change down a gear when pushed away, the opposite of other Toyota models with automatic transmissions.
Toyota is tipped to continue testing the automatic GR Yaris in the coming months and is particularly eager to test it in warm weather to ensure that it is up for task of high-performance driving in hot conditions.
The current GR Yaris is sold exclusively with a six-speed manual and while this has appeased car enthusiasts, it has no doubt limited the appeal of the car. It was a similar story with the Hyundai i30 N which, for the first couple of years, was sold exclusively with a stick shift but can now be ordered with an eight-speed dual-clutch.
