What's the news?
Brief if tantalising news from Toyota here, which is launching a surprise attack on the B-segment supermini hot hatch battleground - it's going to bless its previously staid Yaris with more than 210hp.
This little rip-snorter will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and it's said to provide a link between the road-going models we've already got (about the most potent of which is the 99hp/169Nm Hybrid model) and the ferocious Yaris WRC rally car.
It's about time Toyota started ramping up the interest levels across its range, because - aside from the GT86 and the recently released C-HR - it has been in the doldrums for too long now in its post-Celica, MR2 and Supra world.
No word on what sort of badging the hot Yaris will get but as you can see, it is based on the three-door model for maximum driving fun and youthful appeal. And it will be, by some considerable margin, easily the most powerful Yaris yet, because for the first-gen model we had an SR/T-Sport range-topper with 105hp; while for the MkII, there was a 1.8-litre VVT-i variant with just 133hp. So Toyota's claim of 210hp+ sounds extremely promising stuff indeed.
Anything else?
At the same time as launching this Ford Fiesta ST, Peugeot 208 GTi, Renaultsport Clio 220 Trophy and Volkswagen Polo GTI rival, Toyota will tidy up the entire Yaris range. New front- and rear-end design plus a modernised interior are all on the cards, as are 'many technical modifications' to improve the comfort and handling of the hatchback. More details will be revealed at Geneva.