2021 Toyota GR Yaris officially launched

It’s been a long time coming, but Toyota’s GR Yaris is finally here.

And unfortunately for us, it’s all sold out – at least for the moment.

The $49,950 car was initially offered at $39,950 for the first 1000 customers, then Toyota offered up a hundred or so other examples at $44,950 to see out Australia’s initial allocation.

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There’s a desire for Toyota to request another allocation sometime in 2021, though it’s unsure which variant and specification level would be on the cards.

In any case, the car arriving on our roads imminently will be a cracker.

The Toyota GR Yaris stocks a 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine producing 200kW and 370Nm in a 1280kg body, resulting in a 0-100km/h claim of just 5.2 seconds.

It shares just three exterior components with the normal Yaris small hatch, the headlights, taillights and mirrors, with the rest of the body a bespoke widebody affair featuring aluminium panels for the doors, bonnet and boot, while sporting a carbon fibre roof.

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It’s a manual-only affair, equipped with a six-speed intelligent manual transmission that can rev-match shift between gears and is geared for a 230km/h top speed.

The GR Yaris combines the front end of Toyota’s GA-B platform (Yaris) with the rear of the GA-C platform (Corolla) for a dedicated standalone architecture that houses a special suspension design and bespoke GR-FOUR all-wheel-drive system that can theoretically send up to 100 per cent of torque to either the front or rear axle.

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Safety was high on Toyota’s engineers’ minds throughout development owing to its sports intent.

As a result, the GR Yaris includes autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, intersection assist, blind-spot monitor, a head-up display, reverse camera and six airbags as standard.

MORE TOYOTA GR YARIS GOODNESS

• First production drive of the GR Yaris
• We busted the GR Yaris before anyone else
• Toyota hints at GR Corolla

You’ll note some key goodies added to the exterior, such as 18-inch Enkei alloy wheels wrapped in Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tyres, power folding mirrors, LED lights, and black brake calipers.

It comes in just three colours; black, red or white.

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Inside, the GR Yaris gets a unique small-diameter leather steering wheel, leather short-shift gear knob and handbrake, aluminium pedals and suede-insert/leather-accented heated sports seats.

Screen-wise, there’s a 7.0-inch main infotainment unit with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto capability, joined by a smaller 4.2-inch display nestled within the instrument cluster that provides information such as turbo pressure and shift lights.

Other standard equipment includes dual-zone climate control, an eight-speaker JBL sound system, keyless entry and start-up, satellite navigation and digital radio.

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As with many sports cars, this one doesn’t feature a commodious boot size.

Toyota says the GR Yaris can only fit a miserly 141 litres of luggage, though the seats fold in 60/40 split/fold fashion to bolster that somewhat.

The GR Yaris is serviced a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with seven years for engine and driveline, while capped-price servicing for the first six dealer visits costs $260 each with 6-month/10,000km intervals.

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The GR Yaris is just another step forward in the Gazoo Racing Australian onslaught; Toyota is committed to adding new models in due course like the C-HR GR Sport, on top of the established GR Yaris and GR Supra.

Click through the gallery at the top of this story for a 50 image gallery of the Toyota GR Yaris.