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Toyota New Zealand confirms 100 more GR Yaris available amidst Car of the Year win
Aligning with the Toyota GR Yaris winning AA/Driven Car of the Year, Toyota New Zealand has confirmed that an additional 100 units will be available for customers from mid-2022.
Born of a World Rally Championship-winning car, the GR Yaris was created for pure driving pleasure and fun.
Hot hatch lovers around the world have the WRC homologation rules to thank for the creation of the GR Yaris, as they required a production run of 25,000 units of the base roadgoing variant to qualify to run in WRC. This cemented Toyota’s commitment to produce a quick little car that could offer such fun and joy to drive.
The development of the GR Yaris came under the personal attention of Toyota President Akio Toyoda who had this to say upon the launch of the GR Yaris: "[The] Supra made a successful comeback, but still, I have always wanted [a] sports car purely made by Toyota," he said.
"When we won [the] WRC manufacturer's title last year, I felt Toyota became recognized all over Europe, and that made me think that we must have a winning car to gain worldwide recognition as a true car manufacturer. This GR Yaris is the sports car we made from scratch to win at world level."
Toyota New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, Neeraj Lala, says that Toyota is humbled by this honour for this fun to drive car, alongside the other Toyota finalists.
“We have worked hard to offer a range of product for our customers and the fact that we have a finalist in almost every category, is really humbling for us as a brand,” says Neeraj.
“In 24 years with Toyota I’ve never seen such a great line up of vehicles and recognition in one award competition. We have seen the whole automotive industry working hard to transition their fleets to low emission vehicles and I want to congratulate all the other category winners and worthy category finalists.”
“To be honest, any one of the Toyota finalists would have been a worthy winner of the AA Driven Car of the Year,” he says.
“We have worked hard as a brand to offer a range of products for our customers. This award shows the hard work and dedication of our stores and staff, and I am thankful for their continuing hard work despite this year’s disruptions.”
“I encourage any customer wanting one of the 100 additional GR Yaris units to register their interest at their nearest Toyota Store. The global demand for this vehicle continues to be very high, so they will go fast,” Neeraj says.
Other Toyota vehicles that won their respective categories were:
- Best Small SUV – Yaris Cross
- Best Medium SUV – RAV4
- Clean Green Car of the Year Best Hybrid – RAV4 Hybrid
- Best Light Commercial – Hilux
- Best Sports/Performance – GR Yaris