Now that Toyota has announced their plans to return to the World Rally Championship in 2017 with the Yaris WRC (pictured above), it's being said that a production version of the high-performance model could land on the market in the near future. If the model goes into development as speculated, it will be the first hot hatch offered by Toyota to hit dealerships nationwide.
In a recent interview with Motoring, Tetsuya Tada, Toyota's head engineer for sports vehicle management, talked about the possibility of a hot hatch Yaris coming into fruition. According to Tada, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda is pushing for the project which means it's likely to see the light of day. As of right now, Toyota currently sells a turbocharged Yaris model in Japan, the Vitz GRMN Turbo, but there is no high-performance Yaris option available in the U.S., making the potential hot hatch project a big deal for America.
In order to truly stand out from the pack, a Yaris hot hatch model will have to offer enough power to beat its competitors. According to Tada, this will be taken care of through the use of a "big turbo,'" which will likely be supported by a strong suspension and hearty transmission. Aside from these tidbits, we’re still waiting to find out more about the potential Yaris hot hatch model. Be sure to regularly check our blog for updates on the vehicle and other Toyota news.
