300BHP GR Yaris Morizo Is In The Works But We Might Not Get It Here

300BHP GR Yaris Morizo would be a highly potent track day machine packages in a small frame.

A more potent version of Toyota’s epic GR Yaris is already in the works for the European market as reported by Autocar UK. This is following the disappointment Toyota’s European fans faced hearing the news that the much-anticipated GR Corolla would not be offered there. A little consolation perhaps, but an epic one for sure.

The updated GR Yaris would carry the Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s motorsports pseudo name “Morizo” just like the GR Corolla which is concurrently in development.

The Toyota GR Yaris Morizo would feature the elder siblings tuned up 1.6-litre turbocharged mill which yields an extra 28BHP and 30Nm Torque putting it at 296BHP and 400Nm of Torque.

Furthermore in-line with the “Morizo” theme, weight saving was a key aspect, hence the rear seats were deleted. However basic creature comfort such as sound system and air-conditioning is kept to make it driveable daily.

The GR Yaris Morizo is claimed to be able to hit the 100KMH mark in less than 4.5 seconds and hit top speeds of 250KMH. In comparison, the current GR Yaris takes 5.5 second to reach 100KMH and has a top speed of 230KMH.

These details were shared to Autocar UK by Gazoo Racing's chief engineer, Naoyuki Sakamoto who added that the GR Yaris Morizo might feature the close-ratio six-speed manual gearbox similar to the GR Corolla Morizo. This is to replace the current six-speed production gearbox which is known as the GR Yaris’s Achilles Heels.  

He further added that majority of the development works for the GR Corolla was actually carried out on GR Yaris race cars competing in the Super Taikyu Japan Series making this adaptation easier.

As for electronic trickery, Sakamoto commented that they are pushing for natural vehicle control hence don’t be surprised if launch control and drift modes are omitted. He said further that "If the vehicle is good enough to control, we don’t have to prepare any special mode."

Sakamoto did also confirm that the automatic GR Yaris is still in development with Toyota taking the traditional torque-converter route instead of the modern dual-clutch setup. We at Caricarz wonder why this is the case when most performance manufacturers are offering dual-clutch as their only offering due to its performance advantages and ease of use. However, Sakamoto also stressed that the automatic would match the manual GR Yaris's character with Toyota performance arm’s bespoke calibration. Well this we have to wait to see.  

Now for the most important question, will we get it here in Malaysia since the European offering would surely be a right hand drive configuration? Well highly unlikely through the official channel as this would be an even lower volume vehicle as compared to the low 200 units of GR Yaris Malaysians had to rush for. However, rest assured the grey-importers would be there to snap some up for Malaysians.  

Watch the GR Corolla teased prior to its launch