The World’s Most Powerful Toyota GR Yaris Lays Down 549 HP

Two years ago, Toyota revealed a rather exciting hot hatchback in the guise of the GR Yaris. The switch from GRMN to GR saw Toyota replace the Lotus-tuned 1.8L supercharged four-cylinder engine of the preceding model with a turbocharged 1.6L three-cylinder powerplant.
Shared with the GR Corolla, this lump cranks out up to 268 horsepower and 273 pound-foot (370 Nm). Those are the crankshaft figures advertised by the Japanese automaker, pretty impressive figures for a three-pot engine.

Codenamed G16E-GTS, this mill produces even more torque in the GRMN Yaris (288 pound-foot or 390 Nm). The GR Corolla delivers 300 ponies and up to 295 pound-foot (400 Nm) if you can get your hands on the Morizo Edition. Merely 200 units will be made for the U.S. at $50,995, including freight.

Turning our attention back to the model that paved the way for the GR Corolla, the GR Yaris in the featured clip is “the world’s most powerful,” according to its owner. Bahrain’s Ebrahim Kanoo of EKanoo Racing tuned it to 549.10 horsepower at the wheels at just under 7,300 revolutions per minute. The dyno graph also shows 496.29 pound-foot (nearly 673 Nm) at 5,300 revolutions per minute, which is absolutely insane by all accounts.

Modified by EKanoo Racing of Bahrain and Lamspeed Racing of Australia, the little ‘Yota still has plenty of performance left untapped. “We still have a lot of room for improvement, so let’s wait until next month’s drag event to have further tests. Stay tuned,” signed off the owner.

We’re not sure what kind of mods are hiding under the hood of that car, and guesstimating the money that went into this build is nigh-on impossible. On the other hand, a brand-new GR Yaris will set you back 34,000 euros in Germany. The Japanese hatch isn’t officially imported in Bahrain. The 34,000 euros mentioned earlier convert to 35,170 dollars at current exchange rates.