2010-12-25

2012 Toyota New Vitz/Yaris

2012 Toyota New Vitz/Yaris

YOKOHAMA - TOYOTA Motor Corp unveiled on Wednesday the third-generation Vitz hatchback, its top-selling gasoline car in Japan, saying the subcompact gets best-in-class mileage of 26.5 km/litre.



The Vitz competes with segment leader Honda Motor Co's Fit and Nissan Motor Co's March, and sold about 125,000 units in Japan in the business year that ended in March 2010.


Its fuel economy, measured under Japanese test methods, beats the March's 26.0 km/litre and the Fit's 24.5 km/l, Toyota said.


Toyota set a monthly sales target of 10,000 Vitz cars in Japan. Pricing starts at 1.06 million yen (S$17,000).

2012 Toyota New Vitz/Yaris


A day earlier, the world's biggest automaker forecast its sales in Japan to fall 17 percent to a 37-year-low of 1.3 million units in 2011, worse than a 9.9 percent drop predicted for the overall market by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.


Government subsidies favoring gasoline-electric and other advanced vehicles had fuelled sales of Toyota's Prius hybrid to record levels until the stimulus expired in early September.

-- REUTERS


2012 Toyota New Vitz/Yaris
 
World’s largest automobile company, Toyota Motors, introduced all new third-generation Vitz hatchback (called Yaris in most other markets), today in Japan. The Japanese auto giants claim the car gets its best-in-class mileage of 26.5 km/litre. Vitz is Toyota’s top-selling gasoline car in Japan. The company has set a monthly sales target of 10,000 Vitz cars in Japan. Toyota Vitz Price starts at 1.06 million yen ($12,660) and it will hit the world market in mid-2011.

2012 Toyota New Vitz/Yaris interior
 
TOKYO — Unveiled Wednesday in Tokyo is the latest from Toyota, the new Vitz. This car, in essence, is expected to come to the U.S. as the next Yaris.



Nissan, Honda. Subaru and Mazda have all refreshed their subcompact offerings in Japan of late, so Toyota is now ready to up the ante with this first full redesign of the Vitz/Yaris since 2005.


Although the stakes are high, Toyota has essentially played it safe with this third-generation Vitz.


Yes, the styling is more expressive and, it seems, strongly Eurocentric (with more than a nod, perhaps, toward France's Renault). But underneath, this is a safe evolution of a well-established product. The platform is essentially a carryover, even though the wheelbase is up almost 2 inches and overall length stretches 4 inches to a new 153 inches.


The payoff is extra cabin space, especially in the back, but bigger news in Japan is the car's fuel economy. It may be academic for America, but on home turf, Toyota has reshuffled the existing 1.3-/1.5-liter engine, putting a lot of emphasis on the 1.3.


One trick version of that, with engine stop/start, returns a class-leading 62.3 mpg in Japan's 10.15-mode fuel cycle. The 1.5 that comes to the U.S. continues on with 107 horsepower and stars in the Vitz RS, the raciest of the new Vitz family at launch.


This RS spinoff runs with massaged grille and bumper treatment and gets 16-inch alloys and sport seats. An Activematic CVT option, with steering-wheel paddle shifters, is also on the RS menu, as an alternative to a stock five-speed manual shifter.


Inside, Toyota has gone for a simple, functional dashboard design with a long, thin metal panel running along the middle, plus a conventional main gauge cluster that's easy to get to know, if not terribly inspiring to look at. The makeover also brings all-new seats.


A hybrid model is also in the works but, we hear, won't appear until well into 2012.


Inside Line says: Toyota goes for a new look with the redesigned Vitz/Yaris, which may or may not lure new buyers into the fold. Whatever you think of the styling, this is a major new player for Toyota at home that's on a mission to sell 10,000 units a month, and counting. — Peter Nunn, Correspondent