During January's Tokyo Auto Salon, the mid-engine TGRR GR Yaris M concept was unveiled as the number-one item in "Morizo's Top 10 News Stories." At the recent Super Taikyu race in Okayama, the midship model finally took to the track.
“We’re a bunch of oddballs who love a challenge.”
A smiling Tomoya Takahashi, president of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR), joked with reporters at Round 6 of the ENEOS Super Taikyu Series 2025 Empowered by BRIDGESTONE, held at Okayama International Circuit (Mimasaka) on October 25.
It was the debut outing for the TGRR GR Yaris M concept, a car featured in “Morizo’s Top 10 News Stories” at January’s Tokyo Auto Salon. In fact, “Midship takes off” came in at number one.
While other carmakers are putting out fewer midship models, TGR bucked the trend by announcing the development of this new Yaris. President Takahashi explained the purpose behind the effort.
President Takahashi
In the 2000s, we had what was known as the “global master plan,” and Toyota had become a company that only built cars that made money. Since midship models don’t sell in large numbers, they naturally fell by the wayside.
If we were the old Toyota, I think the response to this project would have been “What are you talking about? Forget it!” But under Chairman Akio Toyoda’s presidency, the company came to embrace new challenges.
In the past, a newly built car would never have been driven like this, and I don’t think you would have seen a vehicle at this stage of completion entered in a race, with Master Driver Akio Toyoda behind the wheel testing it out.
I hope our efforts here demonstrate that we are dedicated to continuing to make cars through motorsports.
Relying less on prayer
The GR Yaris symbolizes TGR’s commitment to “making ever-better cars through motorsports.” Honed through Super Taikyu and the World Rally Championship (WRC), and with this year's Nürburgring 24 Hours under its belt, this is a highly accomplished mass-produced sports car.
In the regular GR Yaris, however, the front-engine 4WD packaging means that all of the vehicle’s functions—stopping, turning, accelerating—are concentrated around the front section.
This layout places a heavier load on the front tires, which wear out more easily and must be replaced three times as often as the rear. Increased wear can also result in understeer.
Chairman Akio Toyoda, aka Morizo, describes the moments during cornering when understeer renders the car uncontrollable as “time to pray to God.”
Seeking to do away with the need for prayer, Toyota’s development team came up with the midship four-wheel-drive packaging that became the TGRR GR Yaris M concept.
President Takahashi
The midship layout was our way of making cars that are fun for customers to drive. As for why we went with four-wheel drive for the midship, you can trace that back to the MR2.
The MR2 likewise had an incredibly well-balanced weight distribution between the front and rear, but it was prone to spinning. What made the car turn so well also led it to spin out easily on corners.
By turning that layout into four-wheel drive, you transform the power that causes the vehicle to spin into a force that pulls the car forward, improving stability through corners. That’s why we took on the challenge of a midship four-wheel drive, aiming for faster, more stable cornering.
When you get behind the wheel, we hope the first thing people notice is how well the car turns. From here, development is going to happen out on the racetrack for all to see, as we want customers who purchase the car in the future to feel that they’ve been part of the process.
Positioning the engine and other heavy components near the center of the vehicle has dramatically improved turning performance, with promising signs that there will be fewer “pray to God” moments of understeer. At the same time, the midship GR Yaris demands a skilled hand on the wheel, making it a vehicle for more advanced drivers.
During practice on the day before the main race, Morizo commented to President Takahashi, “It’s a fun drive, but there’s still work to be done, isn’t there?”