Geneva Motor Show: Battle of the hot hatch supermini gets underway

Toyota has revealed full details of its new hot Yaris, the car being built to celebrate the Japanese company's return to the main stage of world rallying. Hot on the heels of Toyota's first rally win since 1999, the Yaris GRMN is making its debut at the Geneva motor show.

GRMN? Well, the GM part stands for Gazoo Racing, Toyota's in-house racing team which runs its world rally squad, amongst other racing programmes. MN? That's for Masters of the Nurburgring — Gazoo Racing's main stomping ground, and home to its many Nurburgring 24hrs successes. GRMN models have been sold before, but they've been exclusively for the Japanese domestic market.

Power for the Yaris GRMN will come from a new 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, fitted with a supercharger (rather than the more common turbocharger) and power will be a Fiesta-ST-beating 207hp. Toyota isn’t quoting a 0-100kmh time yet, but it’s expected that the Yaris GRMN might duck under the 6.0 seconds barrier. Gazoo Racing black-and-red racing decals will be an option.

In contrast to many current rivals, the Yaris GRMN will only be offered with a three-door bodyshell.

Fiesta ST

Across the hall at Ford, the blue oval brand unveiled its own hot hatch supermini, the Fiesta ST. Powered with the firm’s latest version of its highly-acclaimed three-cylinder petrol EcoBoost engine, it puts out nealy 200bhp and is capable of a 0-100km/h time of just 6.7 seconds. With the regular new Fiesta not arriving in Ireland until late July the ST version isn’t expected until 2018.