Monday 19th August 2013

Toyota Yaris Hybrid-R concept

Toyota's Hybrid-R Frankfurt concept reveals itself as ... a 400hp four-wheel drive Yaris?

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Toyota. Yaris. Hybrid. Words a PistonHeads scribe would never reasonably expect to find himself writing for a story on the PH homepage. Yet there they are.

Take this as your starting point...

Prefixed with '400hp-plus', 'four-wheel drive' and 'Le Mans-derived hybrid system' and all of a sudden it begins to make some sort of sense, as the drip feed of teasing press releases for Toyota's Hybrid-R concept for Frankfurt reveals the car to be based on, yes, the humble Yaris.

From the first release we knew it would be 'an exciting concept for road and track' and feature hybrid technology based on the TS030 LMP1 car. Strong start. The second release boasted of switchable road and track modes - again hammering home the circuit ready pretensions - and confirmation the car would be based on an existing Toyota model. Having established that would not be the GT86 a long hard stare at the current Toyota product line-up here, in the US and Japan was a pretty uninspiring way to spend some time. Best we could come up with from that was something Auris-based.

...and add a bit of this to make your mega Yaris

But no, it's a Yaris. Running a 1.6 GRE (Global Race Engine) paired with two electric motors to give it 'intelligent all-wheel drive capability' by releasing power stored in a super capacitor under braking, presumably to the rear wheels. Toyota describes this as "particularly suitable for use in a sports car thanks to its high power density and quick charge and discharge speeds."

We'll wait to hear more from Frankfurt having inspected the car itself on the Toyota stand.

[P4ROT]

Like a clio 200 that's hit a deer

[Mikeado]

Nailed it!

I wonder if a version of this powertrain will power the supposed upcoming Bimmeryota Supra?

[Aaron W]

Why a hybrid though

[Tinykin]

Will there be an Aston Martin version?

[Papa Hotel]

Somebody wake me up when they make one.

[mr2j]

This is so cool that I'm not even allowed to read the article.

Yaris GT-four? Yaris All-trac?

[RemarkLima]

Is it the Yaris simply because it's one of the smaller, hence lighter, models that can fit the extra gubbins in? And will they ditch the rear seats? Maybe stick the engine out back a la Clio v6?

With their new CEO, I think anything could happen...

[FestivAli]

Hybrid or not, it's another crazy hp hot hatch (idea. possible show car. very small production prospect. whatever). When I first read the headline on another site I didn't read that it would be AWD and worried for the trees and hedges of the orient, but drive all four? I likey.

[kambites]

Aaron W said:

Why a hybrid though

Why not?

[TransverseTight]

Aaron W said:

Why a hybrid though

Because the planned nuclear powered concept was seen as too risky since Fukishima.

But seriously you ask this? Have you watched F1/ Le Mans with KERS?

More power, better acceleration. Probably more mpg too so less time filling up with unleaded. A bit.

Rather than wasting braking energy as heat, capture it, store it and then unleash it when required by the driver.

Think of it as an electric powered turbo. We're not talking "old hat" Prius battery tech here, this is fast charging super capacitors and motor/generator assist in line in the transmission before the final drive.

Hit the button and get an additional 100+bhp for a few seconds of traffic light tarmac melting mayhem :-)

Just don't expect to outdrag a lambo on the M1 - after a few seconds that capacitor will be empty and you'll be left on petrol power.