Toyota GR Yaris hits the brakes after $5000 price rise, and there could be another increase coming

The first 1000 examples of the 2021 Toyota GR Yaris hot hatch sold out within a week of going on sale at an introductory price of $39,950 drive-away. 

However, Toyota has sold only sold about 50 examples in the month since the price rose to $44,950 drive-away. And the price could increase further still.

A statement from Toyota Australia has confirmed of the 100 cars available at the higher price, “approximately half have now been sold”. 

“Once these cars sell out, we will move our focus to the Special Edition Rallye, with any price changes and further details to be communicated in due course,” said a Toyota spokesperson.

Pricing for the Toyota GR Yaris Rallye edition – which has no more power but does come with limited-slip differentials, revised suspension, grippy tyres, and lightweight wheels – will be announced later this month. It is expected to cost close to or in excess of $50,000.

An even hotter and more expensive version – dubbed GRMN – has been spotted testing in Germany.

However, Toyota Australia has indicated even the regular version of the Toyota GR Yaris could return to its original RRP of $49,500 plus on-road costs (about $53,000 drive-away).

“We did make it clear from day one that ($49,950 plus on-road costs) was the retail price positioning,” said Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley. 

“We'll just evaluate that on the journey. At this point we’re very excited by what’s happening in the market. We set out to stimulate this market. We set out to create a storm in this performance market, (and) we’ve achieved that.”

Mr Hanley said Toyota would now “look after those (Yaris) GR customers as best as we can, and give them the best experience they've never ever had in their life … with some of the initiatives that they're going to be involved with”.

The Toyota executive said the first 1000 examples sold out within a week, which was faster than expected. The company had originally planned to sell 1000 over the first 12 months.

"That (introductory price) was all around an investment in the (Toyota) GR brand, which I think was overwhelmingly successful,” said Mr Hanley.

“We're very buoyed by the success of that strategy, and the fact that we'll have over a thousand GR Yaris customers taking deliver their cars between November and March next year,” said Mr Hanley.

"In terms of the price going forward, we have not made a decision around that at this point,” said Mr Hanley. “We'll evaluate that as we sell out the second instalment. But we are still very buoyed by the interest in GR Yaris as we sit here today.”

When asked if Toyota would have launched the Toyota GR Yaris at a higher price, given how quickly the first 1000 sold out, Mr Hanley said the company “would not have changed one aspect of our strategy”. 

“We set out to excite, stimulate, and create a growth around performance car market in Australia,” he said. “Toyota GR has done exactly that.”