A lot of customers were disappointed when Toyota announced the GR Yaris won’t be making its way to American shores. But that disappointment seems likely to go away after the automaker hinted at “an answer” to the Yaris that will be built for the North American market.
It’s still unclear what the company is working on at the moment; however, if the upcoming model will be similar to the GR Yaris, it’ll surely not be an Americanized version of the vehicle. Instead, it will be based on a model already available in the U.S. and will just be equipped with the Yaris’s high-power engine.
The GR Yaris is powered by a 1.6-liter inline three-cylinder that makes 268 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque. It is mated to a six-speed manual transmission with a standard rev-matching system. It also comes with an all-wheel-drive configuration available with Torsen limited-slip front and rear differentials and an electronically controlled center differential.
The said engine is the most powerful three-cylinder engine in the world right now and is expected to make a huge splash on the market should it find its way to the U.S. in the near future.
So far, there have been reports of the Corolla hatchback getting an upgrade with the Yaris engine, but nothing is confirmed.
Speculations arose when Toyota’s Executive Vice President of Sales Bob Carter alluded to the arrival of a spicier version of a hot hatch that’s currently available in America.
Experts are saying the theory makes sense considering the Corolla hatchback shares the same modular platform with the Yaris.
The Toyota GR Yaris made its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon and is one of the few vehicles that are not sold in the U.S. An online petition to bring the model to America was also created in the past.
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