Can't afford a fire-breathing GR Yaris? Toyota's got the answer for you...

Toyota has officially unveiled a baby GR Yaris that blends the tough look of the brand's fire-breathing hot hatch with a more sedate drivetrain and an automatic gearbox.

Billed as a way to more "easily enjoy the sharpened performance of the GR", the Yaris RS makes use of a 1.5-litre engine and a CVT automatic. 

That means, despite looking like a fully fledged hot hatch, the RS's three-cylinder engine produces just 88kW and 145Nm - a fair drop from the GR's 200kW and 375Nm. And unlike the GR, the RS can be had with an automatic transmission - in this case, a direct-shift CVT with 10 artificial steps built in. 

The RS sends its power to the front wheels, and despite sharing near-identical dimensions, is lighter than the GR, with a kerb weight of 1130kg versus 1250-1280kg.

Read More About Toyota Yaris

Toyota GR Yaris CVT revealed: Same show, less go for automatic warm hatch

First revealed, as the "GR Yaris CVT concept", at the Tokyo Auto Salon, the RS has officially made it to production, where it will share the bespoke three-door body style, flared guards and lightweight materials as the proper GR Yaris.

So, slower than the GR Yaris, sure. But perhaps that's looking at it the wrong way, because the RS does promise to be a faster, better drive than the regular five-door Yaris.  For one, it's lighter, owing to the weight-saving strategy also applied to the GR, and there's double wishbone suspension at the rear.

Will it come to Australia? We put that very question to Toyota in Australia for you. 

"We never say never on things, and the GR family is growing all the time," a spokesperson told CarsGuide. "Realistically, we’re first focusing on things that have a noticeable performance increase, and they’re the vehicles that we’ll bring to the country first. But we never rule anything out entirely."