Is this mid-engined Toyota GR Yaris a 2027 MR2 test car?

Seemingly out of nowhere, Toyota has revealed a mid-engined version of its sublime GR Yaris rally-inspired hot hatch, called the GR Yaris M. That doesn’t mean a mid-engined Group B-esque GR Yaris is coming, though. More likely, this is a test bed for a future mid-engined Toyota sports car and a new high-performance four-cylinder engine, set to be subjected to the punishment of motorsport.

Indeed the concept dispenses with both the thrumming 1.6-litre three-cylinder of the standard GR Yaris and its traditional placement. Instead, the Yaris M uses a new 2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, mounted ahead of the back wheels and accessible through the hatch. 

Though details are scarce, it sounds like the G20E engine could be related in some capacity to the G16E three-cylinder that powers the production GR Yaris.

To fit the engine, which looks to be on the rearward side of mid-mounted, the Yaris M appears to be wider at the rear, certainly with wider tyres. The rear hatch is lined with heat reflective gold foil and has a large air outlet to allow heat to escape. The rear diffuser is missing, with the mid-section silencer exposed.

On its introduction at the Tokyo Auto Salon, programme representatives were asked whether the prototype would spawn a production model that isn’t necessarily a Yaris. Their response: ‘That’s our hope, we can all imagine various things at this moment but there’s no official announcement yet’.

The cohort on stage also noted that it wasn’t initially the plan to show this car off but that Morizo (Akio Toyoda, Toyota Motor Corporation chairman) insisted. They also confirmed that Toyoda himself will be taking a turn behind the wheel to race the car. Indeed the GR Yaris M is set not for road use or to be confined to a motor show stage, but to go racing in the Super Taikyu racing series in Japan.

Toyota’s official statement reads: ‘The team aims to implement "driver-first" carmaking, in which cars are repeatedly driven to failure and then repaired in the extreme conditions of racing and in which feedback from Morizo, professional drivers, and gentleman drivers is thoroughly incorporated.’

This at least alludes to the possibility that this GR Yaris M concept is in fact a more serious testing prototype, likely a powertrain mule, set to go racing to test the durability of a new high-performance engine, which aside from a future MR2, could find its way into the next Celica and even the next Supra. Remember, Toyota has been consistently committed to internal combustion and maintaining a healthy performance car lineup.