Baby 'Yota! Is Australia going to miss out on Toyota's cutest sports car? Hopes are high for sub-Toyota GR86, Mazda MX-5 rival

The Yaris has already spawned one highly sought-after sports car, why not another?

That's Toyota's reasoning if reports from Japan are anything to go by, as the world's largest car brand is apparently working on a compact GR sports coupe built on part of the same version of the Toyota New Global Architecture platform (TNGA) as the Yaris.

Japanese outlet BestCar, known for its insider knowledge well ahead of official reveals, has rendered (above) what it expects to see when Toyota pulls the covers off.

Developed in partnership with Suzuki and Daihatsu, Toyota's baby sports car (referred to as Midship Sports for now, it seems) mightn't quite be 'kei car' small if its 1.0-litre engine capacity is anything to go by. Kei cars must have a 666cc or smaller engine to classify.

The reasoning for the joint development comes down to that engine. Toyota can supply the platform knowledge and resources, while Suzuki brings it's small engine expertise and a 996cc three-cylinder unit too.

Daihatsu is along for the ride with its small-car expertise too, as well as being a subsidiary of Toyota.

No mention has been made of its mid-engine layout being anything to do with the late Toyota MR2, but it's easy to draw comparisons, even if this car is set to be rather diminutive.

While it's possible without specific details to speculate that the Midship Sport could come to Australia, small Japanese cars are often deemed too unsafe for our road as they're built for relatively low-speed urban environments.

Given the Midship Sport is reportedly 4.2-metres long and just 1.2m tall, it's not clear how the car would fare against Australian regulations.