Toyota GR Yaris 2026 News

Are we headed for a world where petrol is only the fuel of the rich, powering their hypercars and luxury super SUVs? It certainly appears that way. And I don’t like it…This week the car world achieved a major milestone - the average global price of electric vehicles fell below that of hybrids for the first time. And before too long we’ll see the average price of EVs drop lower than the price of petrol cars.There’s nothing wrong with that - we’re watching the evolution of the motor car, and a change in buying habits and taste in real time.What could supercharge this process and fundamentally change what fuel we use, however, is the volatility of petrol prices which have spiked dramatically due to the conflict in the Middle East. Covering car news each day is revealing a trend and I’m not too sure I like it. High-performance and luxury car brands are doubling down on their fossil fuel focus, while mainstream brands are pushing the limits to make the most affordable electric cars.At the start of this year BMW announced it would reverse its decision to pivot away from petrol and return to producing V8 and V12 units due to their customer demands.Rival brand Mercedes-Benz did the same thing and scrapped its plan to go completely electric by 2030 and dived back into making V8s.Porsche, too, changed its mind after receiving a walloping from customers who made it very clear that Porsche to them meant power from petrol, not power from the electricity grid.Lamborghini also did an about face on EVs at the start of this year and went back to petrol, adding a hybrid system but only to make more mumbo.Yep, Lamborghini replaced its V10 Huracan which made 470kW with the V8 Temerario which makes 588kW plus another 220kW from its electric motors.Then there’s the mysterious case of Ferrari giving us the breathtaking 12Cilindri with yes a V12, which was closely followed by the even more gorgeous V8 Amalfi, before giving us the all-electric Luce which hurts to look at directly. It’s as if the brand was sending us some kind of message coded in ugliness about being asked to do something against its will. Of course the super high end brands appear completely unconcerned by prohibitively high petrol prices affecting sales or the climate.Bugatti announced an end to the reign of its enormous 8.0-litre quad-turbo W16 engines in its cars like the Veyron and Chiron, but before we could even think it was going green trumpeted in almost the same breath that it was doing V16s instead.Which it did with its current Tourbillon hypercar that houses a monstrous 8.3-litre V16 engine. Yes it has a hybrid system with electric motors but it’s not to save fuel, it’s to make more power. If you were to ask bespoke high performance vehicle maker Hennessey if it had electric cars the response would almost certainly be, “never heard of her." The brand just unveiled its US spy plane-inspired Blackbird hypercar with a naturally aspirated V8 and positioned it as the kind of vehicle that allows drivers to cover 1300km a day.Just days ago Aston Martin ran into the room boasting it was delaying its EV plans because it had found a loop hole which meant it could keep making V12s. The loop hole being that the brand had to keep V12 sales under 1000 a year.Low volume sales aren’t a worry for brands like these - not when an Aston Martin Vanquish costs more than $700,000. And unlike you and me, that's not the owner's only car… it joins a garage with five other cars in it… at least. Yes we’re talking millions of dollars and all petrol-powered.Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to work out how we can get into an electric car for less than $40,000 because chaotic fuel prices are hurting us and we’re worried about the future resale value of petrol cars. I’m also highly concerned about the air that my children breathe and the thought of having a car powered by burning oil that just to drives to shops, school and work sounds more and more preposterous to me. It’s like having kerosene lanterns in every room of your house rather than light bulbsTo be completely clear, though, I love petrol performance cars and detest electric performance ones. Petrol has a place.My fear is that petrol’s happy place in performance cars will eventually exclude me as the fuel becomes more expensive, rarer and the food of exotic beasts I can’t afford.So what’s left? There’s the Cupra Leon VZx, Ford Mustang, Honda Civic Type R and Prelude, Hyundai i30N, Mazda MX-5, Nissan Z, Subaru WRX, Toyota GR Yaris and GR Corolla and VW Golf R.Watch these models closely, because they are the final 'affordable' petrol performance cars and they are all now endangered.    

Toyota’s GR Yaris hot hatch is about to receive some performance enhancements in Australia.It will launch next month, with a spokesperson for Toyota Australia confirming there will be no price change for the new GR Yaris.The car will continue to start from $55,490 (before on-road costs).It will now have a smaller steering wheel diameter of 360mm, down from 365mm. This smaller steering wheel has been designed to offer a more comfortable grasp for the driver when cornering. Steering has been given a further tune courtesy of an expanded operating range for electric assistance. There will also now be steering wheel-mounted switches positioned separately, with illumination to aid visibility and use under race conditions. The range-topping GTS will ride on new high-performance Bridgestone Potenza Race tires as part of the upgrades. There have been some minor design tweaks for the car to give it a sharper look. Toyota Australia Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations John Pappas said these minor upgrades were designed to provide the marginal improvements needed for racing success. “When you’re racing, improvements are measured in tenths of seconds and these upgrades to the GR Yaris are designed to deliver the sort of performance enhancements that can make a difference,” Pappas said.The upgrades were inspired by Toyota’s recent success at the World Rally Championship. It will continue to be a rival to the Hyundai i20 N and the Volkswagen Polo GTI Down Under.All GR Yaris variants use a 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, producing 221kW and 400Nm. Toyota’s hot hatch could be about to undergo a serious change before the end of the decade.There have been rumours of a new hybrid set-up coming to GR Yaris in 2028 similar to recently-announced performance grades of the LandCruiser 300 4WD.The brand did not confirm whether such a variant was in the works, but its potential announcement could coincide with the arrival of the new all-electric Yaris coming in 2028.

Toyota is the king of hybrids, and it could be about to install petrol-electric grunt in its small but mighty hot hatch.

Toyota is looking to accelerate into the future at full speed, leaving its ‘whitegoods on wheels’ image trailing in the dust.And it all stems from the top down, with Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda allowing his love of performance cars and motorsport to trickle down across its entire global operation - including Australia.Toyota’s performance sub-brand, Gazoo Racing (GR), began life as Toyoda’s personal racing team. As he put his own mark on the company his grandfather founded during his time as Toyota President, GR became more and more prominent. Under his leadership Toyota revived its sports car program, launching the GR 86 and GR Supra, as well as launching the GR Yaris and GR Corolla hot hatches.Even after stepping down as president in 2023, Toyoda’s influence continues to be felt across the company. John Pappas, Toyota Australia’s Vice President National Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, said that Toyoda’s focus on ensuring the brand changed its image has impacted many local decisions.“Akio’s philosophy actually is all about producing ever better cars,” Pappas said. “He actually talks about that. I'm pretty sure you can look him up talking about ever better cars some time ago when we went through this great phase.“I look at it and I think that just inspires all of us globally to continue to build, particularly the GR brand in this case. To see how the GR brand's evolved from 2015 globally to where it is today, and the various products now that form within GR, like the GR 86 and the GR Supra, the GR Yaris, the GR Corolla. We love to see that expansion and what we've seen today, the trajectory we're on, we continue to build on the GR brand. So, absolutely, we want to continue to build on that.”This includes the decision from Pappas’ predecessor in his role, Sean Hanley, greenlighting Toyota’s entry into the local Supercars racing series with a V8-powered GR Supra. Hanley admitted at the time that the company had been evaluating a racing entry for more than 20 years and the rise of GR made it the right time to finally commit.So much so that the highly-expensive racing program isn’t focused purely on increasing Toyota’s sales volume but rather to promote the GR brand both externally and internally to continue the path Toyoda set the brand on.“ Look for us, actually, this is not about selling more cars,” Pappas said. “It's actually more about building the GR brand, building on the GR brand. And it's really more about what I said before about just learning. Learning to build better cars, better people.“They're the two key things for us. Right? This is not about more sales and trying to sell more cars. It's about building better vehicles, better people, and building the GR brand.”

A hot hatch has just been given a serious boost to its performance kit.