The Toyota Yaris GR was already one of the most exciting cars the Japanese brand has ever produced – a homologation special for its next World Rally weapon.
But legendary Japanese tuning house, Pandem/Rocket Bunny, has taken the hot hatch to a whole new level, unveiling the wild-looking creation you see here. Put simply, it looks like the planned Yaris WRC car on steroids.
For those unfamiliar, Pandem and Rocket Bunny are Japanese tuning companies headed by the legendary, Kei Miura. He has earned a reputation for reshaping some of Japan’s most famous models into very different-looking machines – including the Nissan GT-R, Nissan Silvia, Toyota 86 and Honda NSX. He also famously modified Ken Block’s 1978 Ford Escort, one of his few non-JDM projects.
His projects are typified by ultra-wide wheel-arches and big wings seen on this Yaris project. It’s believed the first receipt of this package is Japanese drifting star, Daigo Saito, who unveiled his own, fully-liveried version of this monster over the weekend; boasting a 735kW turbocharged inline six ‘2JZ’.
But the Pandem/Rocket Bunny post on Facebook, that shows off the car in all of its plain-white glory, suggests this isn’t just a one-of-a-kind special, but this new bodykit will be offered by the company to any Yaris GR owner in future.
The regular Yaris GR is due to arrive in Australian showrooms by the end of the year. The car is so different from the rest of the Yaris range it’s built on its own dedicated production line.
Not only is it a three-door model, instead of a five-door like the rest of the Yaris range, it features carbon fibre and aluminium components for lower weight and the roofline is 91mm lower than the standard Yaris.
The Toyota Gazoo engineers, as well as the WRC squad, also widened the rear track and added double-wishbone suspension at the rear for improved handling and a better foundation for the WRC team to build its machine.
It’s powered by an all-new 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that makes 200kW of power and 370Nm of torque. It’s paired to six-speed manual transmission and all-wheel drive system to ensure maximum driving engagement and better traction.
Toyota claims the little Yaris can launch from 0-100km/h in just 5.5 seconds and has its top speed limited to 230km/h.
And if that’s not enough for you then you can call Rocket Bunny and add this dramatic bodykit to create the wildest Toyota yet.
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