Many were shocked when Toyota released the GR Yaris with a mighty 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder tuned to deliver as much as 268 hp. However, a company by the name of Powertune Australia has been working on upgrading this engine ever since and has just set a new world record with its GR Yaris now producing a staggering 741 hp.
Powertune Australia first came across our radar in November 2021 when it revealed that it had built a GR Yaris with 473 hp at the wheels. Making that figure particularly impressive at the time was the fact that it was achieved without the need to make significant hardware changes to the engine itself. In fact, all the tuner did was added new valve springs and left other components like the block, rods, pistons, head gasket, head studs, and camshafts untouched.
Evidently, the tuner thought there was more left on the table and began working on a customer car owned by the chief executive of RØDE, an Australian audio company.
This particular GR Yaris has an upgraded head gasket, new head studs, and the standard turbocharger has been replaced with a Garrett G30-770. In addition, the insane little hot hatch runs a Plazmaman intercooler, 2,200 cc secondary fuel injectors, an Elixr brushless fuel pump, and a custom exhaust. A Motec ECU ensures that everything runs correctly and has allowed Powertune to extract 741 hp at the wheels.
Read: Someone Just Paid $140,000 For A Toyota GRMN Yaris
Much like the 473 hp GR Yaris it built 18 months ago, this example retains the standard rods, crank, and pistons. However, extracting 740 hp from the 1.6-liter three-cylinder has forced the tuner to ditch the standard six-speed manual transmission in favor of an X-Shift six-speed sequential with an ATS Triple plate carbon clutch.
