Is This A Joke? New Toyota GR Yaris May Cost Over $100,000 In France

The Toyota GR Yaris may be a small car, but it emits CO2 like a much bigger one, and that means a whopping tax bill for French buyers

The Toyota GR Yaris stands out as one of the most thrilling hot hatches of our time. With its true-to-form performance capabilities, it’s a compelling choice for enthusiasts that’s hard to miss. However, if you’re French, the allure of this hot hatch must be exceptionally compelling to warrant acquisition.

That’s because in France, customers won’t just have to fight over the limited quantities of the latest, facelifted GR Yaris; they’ll also have to pay a pretty penny. The French government’s emissions tax scale means that some versions of the car will effectively have a six-figure price tag.

The crazy total starts with the GR Yaris’s already high MSRP. In France, the rally-bred hatch starts at €46,300 (around US$49,800 at current exchange rates) when it’s equipped with the manual gearbox, and rises to €48,800 (around US$52,500) for the new edition with the automatic transmission.

Read: France Announces New Legislation Aimed At Making Chinese EVs Less Competitive

Screenshots of Toyota France’s product page

While that’s already a lot to pay for a Toyota Yaris even if it’s a hand-built rally special, it’s just the start. Because of the GR version’s high output engine, examples equipped with a manual transmission emit 190 grams of CO2 per kilometer, and the ones with the automatic transmission emits 210 grams per kilometer.

That puts the GR Yaris is some of the highest brackets for France’s CO2 tax. As first noticed by Caradisiac, this means that French buyers opting for the GR Yaris fitted with a manual transmission will have to pay an additional €45,990 (approximately US$49,500). Those opting for the automatic version will face the highest possible amount, €60,000 (around US$64,600).

We’ve reached out to Toyota Europe for comment, and although at the time of writing we haven’t received a response, the company has allocated 300 cars to the French market. This allocation suggests that it believes this number should meet demand, despite the price more than doubling to a total of €92,290 (approximately US$99,300) for the model equipped with the manual transmission and €108,800 (around US$117,100) for the one equipped with the automatic transmission.

While we are undeniably fans of the GR Yaris here at Carscoops, that’s an awful lot (albeit, not an unprecedented amount) to fork out for such a car. However, we’re curious – would you be willing to invest that kind of money in a hot hatch, regardless of how impressive it may be?