A fresh report out of Japan claims Subaru will leverage its relationship with Toyota to build a new all-wheel-drive hot hatch likely based on the GR Yaris.

According to Best Car, Subaru is keen to return to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), the very competition for which the GR Yaris was developed.

In September 2019, Toyota and Subaru announced a new “business and capital alliance”, with the aim of “further developing and strengthening” their long-term partnership. Under the agreement, the Japanese firms will jointly develop "all-wheel-drive models" as well as the next-generation Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ.

When the hottest Yaris was revealed, of course, Toyota described it as a homologation model “born to win” the WRC.

Now, Best Car claims Subaru will launch a Yaris-based all-paw hot hatch in February 2022, with the newcomer slotting in below the WRX. Interestingly, the report speculates the company will drop in its own horizontally opposed engine rather than carry over Toyota’s 200 kW turbocharged 1,6-litre, three-cylinder unit.

This is not the first time we’ve heard a rumour of Subaru throwing its hat into the modern hot-hatch ring. In fact, late in 2018 another Japanese publication said something similar, adding the model would likely employ a “highly tuned” horizontally opposed, four-cylinder petrol engine.

Original article from Car