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Last week, we told you that the upcoming Toyota Hybrid-R concept, set to debut at Frankfurt, was probably going to be based on the Yaris.

Unfortunately, we were right.

That's the bad news. No, it's not the Supra revival you wanted, or the FR-S-based coupe that seemed to make sense. The reality is, Toyota took what is generally accepted to be a soulless, unsatisfying econobox and stuffed a Toyota Motorsport GmbH turbo 1.6-liter four under the stubby hood and packed in a capacitor-based energy-recovery system. The grand total should be around 400 hp, and I have no doubt that Toyota will make it handle pretty well.

I'm a little lost as to what the point is, frankly. A hatchback with a full-race drivetrain doesn't really hint at anything with production possibilities. The Yaris isn't a strong nameplate among enthusiasts, and one interesting concept isn't going to change that. We'll have to wait until Frankfurt to get to the bottom of what this Hybrid-R concept is supposed to signal to consumers, but that's little consolation for the Supra faithful.

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