Toyota has unveiled the (mid-engined!) GR Yaris M Concept, a motorsport-focused model destined to compete in the Super Taikyu Series.
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Unveiled at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon, Toyota says the GR Yaris M Concept was designed to further explore the potential of the brand’s venerable pocket-rocket, with the manufacturer’s motorsport department — Toyota Gazoo Racing — planning on entering the mid-engined GR Yaris, which employs a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-pot, into the Super Taikyu Series.
Related: CPS 2023: Toyota GR Yaris 1,6 Rally – pure performance pedigree
With the GR Yaris M Concept, the brand will implement its “driver-first” development process, in which a car is repeatedly driven to breaking point and, then, repaired in the extreme environment that is racing. Feedback from drivers is also incorporated. Toyota Gazoo Racing has previously mentioned that this process allows it to build better cars. And its the aforementioned Japanese endurance-racing series — in which commercially available cars compete — that has served as one of the proving grounds.
As a reminder, the stock-standard GR Yaris is powered by the Japanese automaker’s G16E-GTS engine. Locally, the 1.6-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit is exclusively coupled with a six-speed manual cog swapper, sending 198 kW and 360 N.m of torque, the latter of which is available from 3 000 r/min, to all four corners. The company claims a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 5.5 seconds. The top speed is rated at 230 km/h.
However, in 2024, Toyota introduced an eight-speed self-shifter to the GR Yaris model line-up. Noteworthy, with the addition of the automatic transmission Toyota has uprated the turbo-triple powertrains peak power and torque outputs, to 224 kW and 400 N.m.
