By now, we all know about the Toyota GR Yaris. It has a six-speed manual gearbox, 257 horsepower, all-wheel-drive, and plenty of qualities that make it an exciting driver’s car. According to a report from a Japanese site called car.watch.impression.co.jp, however, it seems that Toyota is currently developing an automatic version of this hot hatch.
The Toyota GR Yaris AT prototype [Photo source: car.watch.impression.co.jp]
Of note, the GR Yaris AT prototype was spotted at the Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally Challenge in Japan on March 13, 2022. The said car wasn’t merely on display, but it was actually entered as car #109 in the Rookie Racing GR Yaris division. Interestingly, the GR Yaris was driven by Toyota Motor Corporation’s Vice Chairman of the Board Shigeru Hayakawa.
The car uses an eight-speed automatic torque converter type gearbox. The key goal for this, at least according to Toyota, is for the driver to be able “to focus on driving fast.” This means smooth and responsive gear shifting. That said, the marque provided it with a tranny oil cooler positioned within the car’s front bumper.
Furthermore, the said gearbox can actually be controlled manually with paddle shifters. But despite that, Toyota is also intending it to be driven faster even when the gear shift lever is left in the “D” position.
A peek inside the prototype's interior [Photo source: car.watch.impression.co.jp]
Currently, the Toyota GR Yaris AT is still pretty much a prototype. Sure, it can enter races, but even Vice Chairman Hayakawa shared that the team already found problems that need to be addressed. For instance, he actually admitted to breaking the car as he was pushing it to its limits.
The shifter itself was also picked out from Toyota’s sizable catalog of parts, and it somewhat looks a bit out of place as it isn’t sporty-looking at all.
Regardless, we are of the opinion that many will be looking forward to seeing a production version of the GR Yaris AT. So for more updates on this, keep it here on Philkotse.