A Toyota hot hatch on cards for the US

KUALA LUMPUR: It was at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon in January, where the GR Yaris made its official debut, and it became bases of the automaker’s entry into the World Rally Championship. The B-segment was made open for booking in Europe from March; however, it didn’t make its way to the US market.

But Americans need to worry as Toyota USA recently posted a tweet announcing the arrival of a hot hatch that the US can ‘call its own’. The tweet also mentioned the car to be part of the Toyota GR family, which makes GR Corolla a probable candidate. In February, Toyota announced the arrival of GR Corolla in the UK to fall in 2023, and the car would be powered by the G16E-GTS 1.6 three-cylinder turbo engine featuring in the GR Yaris.

A report by CarsGuide hinted that apart from the GR Yaris powertrain, the GR Corolla will also get its six-speed manual transmission and four-wheel-drive. According to Naohiko Saito, GR Yaris chief engineer said it would be a complete waste to use such powerful engine combination in just one car.

Also Read: Toyota announces 2020 GR Yaris pricing

The mill pumps out a maximum power of 272 PS along with a peak torque of 370 Nm. The power is sent to all four wheels via a GR-Four AWD system with a Torsen mechanical self-locking differential at each axle. Note there is no centre differential for weight-saving purposes. There are three modes between which the driver can switch - Normal (60:40 split), Track (50:50), and Sport (30:70).

The GR Yaris roof is made up of CFRP and its windows and door of aluminium, thus weighing 1,280 kg in total. As for the GR Corolla, we are pretty sure that Toyota will be meticulous too on keeping it on the scale to maximise the performance. However, the Japanese automaker is reported to detune it to 253 PS. Even so, it will keep it marginally ahead of the Mk8 Golf GTI that packs 245 PS and 370 Nm.

There is also a GR Sport trim that lies below the GR model range. In Japan, Toyota offers GR Sport trims of C-HR, and Europe gets the Corolla GR Sport model from January onwards. In southeast Asia, Thailand gets the Corolla Altis GR Sports kit.

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