Finally, Toyota seems to have had enough of being called boring and vanilla. If its Hachi-Roku revival, the GT 86, was a hint, Toyota’s two announcements at this week’s Tokyo Auto Salon are further proof that the company intends to infuse more fun into its cars in the future. Even into small cars like the iQ and the Yaris.
The supercharged iQ worked on by guys at GRMN (Gazoo Racing tuned by MN), has been confirmed for production, although it’s limited to just 100 units. It houses a Toyota 1.33-litre engine but turns up the power from 97bhp to 128bhp, and the torque from 124Nm to 180Nm.
It also gets a motorsports-inspired wide body kit with redesigned front and rear bumpers, sports seats and 16in Enkei alloy wheels.
GRMN has worked its magic on the Yaris with a turbocharger helping take the 1.5-litre petrol engine’s power output to 178bhp and torque to 220Nm. Although production plans aren’t announced yet, they’ve gone the full stretch by adding lowered sports suspension and a high-performance braking system.
