Spy photos taken at the Nürburgring of a new Toyota Yaris GR prototype with a lot of upgraded aerodynamic kit have been spreading around the internet, suggesting we’re going to get an even hotter version of one of the most exciting new cars in a long time.
We already are fairly in love with the Yaris GR in its current form. We love that it has its own small factory, we love its rear-biased all-wheel-drive system, we love its quirky three-cylinder engine and we really love that Toyota sells it with a six-speed manual transmission. The only thing we don’t love is that it isn’t going on sale in every region, at least not in its current form or anytime soon.
So when fresh photos of what clearly appears to be a development model of the Yaris testing at the famous Nürburgring track in Germany show a car with a lot of new bits and pieces we haven’t seen before, it lets the imagination run wild.
While Gizmodo does not have permission to publish the photos, you can view the car at Carscoops, Motor1 and various other publications that managed to snag the pics. The photos appear to show the addition of aerodynamic winglets on the front bumper, a redesigned front fender with giant air ducts behind the wheels and a second, larger spoiler attachment arching over the stock Yaris GR’s roof spoiler. Carscoops speculates that the black-covered roof could also be made of carbon fibre, if Toyota is going for a hardcore, potentially lightweight model of the hatchback.
There are also some interesting disks on the outer edge of the rear wheels that look like they could be somehow rally-car inspired or possibly some sort of rear weight-balancing adjustment. If you have any clues, let me know in the comments.
Whatever the full extent of Toyota’s obvious upcoming enhancements to the Yaris GR is, it’ll build on a car that already weighs just over 1,270 kg and produces 200kW and 168Nm of torque. Let’s just hope we actually get the hot hatch Toyota has teased us with, and let’s hope there are plans to make it just as fun as the Yaris.