The renowned Japanese tuning house and racing team Tom’s revealed that it has started to develop its own version of the Toyota GR Yaris.
Although the GR Yaris is one of the most interesting and unbalanced cars launched in recent years, there is always room for improvement. Even with something as obviously crazy as the GR Yaris – which, let’s not forget, has a fully customized body rich in composite materials, purely because Toyota wants to make a killer rally car with it – car manufacturers are bound to a certain safety and emission standards.
Tuners don’t need to limit themselves to these limits and can take things even further, as Tom GR’s Yaris proves. In fact, Tom unveiled the car during a live broadcast in which he also showed the now restored Toyota Castrol Supra 36 , as you can see below:
Of course, we can see the obvious visual changes in GR Yaris from the outside. There is an entirely new front end, with new canard frames, new split treatment and larger openings for the intercooler and what appears to be brake ducts.
At the rear there is also a brand new body, including a large rally-style rear wing and new ducts. You will also find new side skirts to complete the visual effect. Wheels are 18-inch Rays G025 items, replacing standard 18-inch cast units or optional 18-inch forged BBS wheels.
There are some hints that there is a lot more going on underneath as well. For example, Tom’s GR Yaris now has Endless six-pot monoblock brake calipers, instead of four regular pots. The car also had a slight drop, courtesy of a Luck V1-DFA shock absorber, which has a 24-position damping force adjustment.
As for more power, this is under wraps now, but we doubt that the new central exhaust and the huge intercooler are just there to show. Other tuners have already started working with 257hp (268hp in Japan) 1.6 liters and three cylinders, exceeding 300hp.
Tom’s hasn’t finished developing the car yet, but he should be ready to show the finished product by the end of the year. Since he also had the help of the Toyota GR World Rally Team driver Takamoto Katsuta to help, it must be something impressive.