Toyota has a principle called Kaizen, which broadly translates to “continuous improvement”. It’s an ethos that the Japanese carmaker applies to almost every facet of its business, from its production system to even day-to-day office operations, constantly evolving by the day to make “ever better cars”, as Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda would say.
But perhaps where Kaizen is most apparent is on their cars themselves. Case-in-point, Toyota has just announced an update to the automatic GR Yaris in Japan – just one year after it was announced – with various Motorsports-inherited improvements to further enhance the homologation model’s driving experience.
You’d expect things like a better gearbox tuning for the new eight-speed automatic gearbox, which Toyota says has improved the car’s responsiveness and gear selection during sporty driving – but the new 2025 Toyota GR Yaris even comes with changes as small as 1 mm.
According to Toyota, they’ve updated some of the bolts and fasteners on the chassis of the 2025 Toyota GR Yaris, including a slightly wider bolt head size (by 2 mm) for the rear suspension members, thickened bolt flange (1 mm) for the rear shock absorbers, and a ribbed bolt flange for the front lower arms and lower ball joints.
All of these tiny changes help contribute to “improved steering response and straight-line stability”, Toyota says, enhancing the “sense of oneness with the car”. Who would’ve thought changes as small as bolt sizes can affect your car’s handling by this much?
RELATED: This camouflaged Toyota GR Yaris may be hiding the next-generation Toyota MR2 underneath
Working in conjunction with the new bolts are the new tuning on the suspension and electronic power steering (EPS) systems. The shock absorber damping force has been adjusted to “achieve both required control and ride comfort”, while the EPS has been improved with better steering linearity, courtesy of inputs from professional racing driver Kazuya Oshima.
In fact, Toyota says the different trim levels of the GR Yaris each behave slightly differently to each other: the range-topping RZ “High Performance” variant tuned to provide more controllability at the limit for aggressive track driving, and the RZ with more agile handling performance more suitable for winding roads.
Other small improvements on the 2025 Toyota GR Yaris include an enlarged footrest for the automatic variants, as well as the Toyota Safety Sense advanced driver assistance suite, which is now standard across all trim variants.
As an option, buyers can spec their car with a factory-installed Aero Performance Package, with a ducted aluminium bonnet, front lip spoiler, fender ducts, fuel tank undercover, rear bumper ducts, and a variable rear wing all designed to improve the aerodynamic and cooling performance of the car.
ALSO READ: New Toyota GR Yaris debuts with 8-speed automatic gearbox – 304hp, 400Nm
Toyota Gazoo Racing says that these parts have all been developed based on their experiences competing in the Japanese Rally Championship and Super Taikyu Series, which means your car is also technically part race car with these parts.
As an option, buyers can also opt for a vertical parking brake – adopting insights from the GR Yaris’ participation in rally championships – for easier J-turns.
Order books for the new 2025 Toyota GR Yaris is now open in Japan, with sales and deliveries scheduled to start on May 6. Given that our Toyota GR Yaris here in Malaysia is also imported directly from its home country, we probably won’t have to wait too long for these improvements to also trickle down onto our cars – even though they’ve only just been updated earlier this year.
READ MORE: 2025 Facelift Toyota GR Yaris launched in Malaysia from RM316k
GALLERY
