The official debut is scheduled for January 10.
Just a week ago, leaked photos revealed the Toyota GR Yaris in full but the manufacturer still wants to play the long teasing game before the hot hatch’s debut in early January. That’s admirable as the latest video sneak peek shows us the car in action with famous WRC drivers behind the wheel. While not officially confirmed at this point, the fast Yaris appears to be powered by its four wheels fuelling once again previous rumors of it being an all-wheel-drive model.
Gallery: Toyota GR Yaris spy photos
In this new video, rally stars Ott Tanak, Kris Meeke, and Jari-Matti Latavala, plus Toyota WRC Team principal Tommi Makinen, all get to drive the GR Yaris and share their experience with the camera. And when a legend like Makinen tells you its “exciting,” we know something good is coming soon.
The previous teasers of the car confirmed it will debut on January 10 during the Tokyo Auto Salon 2020. The automaker’s initial plan was to host the unveiling during the Rally Australia (14-17 November) but the cancelation of the rally postponed the global debut of the car due to the catastrophic fires in the country.
No technical details are officially known yet but it is widely believed the hatch will get a four-cylinder turbocharged engine mated to a manual gearbox and an AWD system. Many mechanical upgrades adapted from Toyota’s WRC car will also find their place under the hood.
Another piece of the puzzle that’s still missing is about the model’s availability. We are yet to find out whether the GR Yaris will be a regular production car or a limited-run model like the supercharged Yaris GRMN built in only 400 examples for Europe. Bear in mind that if it ends up being a homologation special, the Japanese company has to build 25,000 road-going examples in 2020 to comply with WRC regulations.
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