All-new Toyota Yaris teases with ‘on the right track’ preview
Lower, lighter, stronger and much more frugal are the promised key characteristics of the completely new Yaris, states Iain Robertson, set to be the launch of late summer 2020, when it will build on its outstanding popularity to enhance its image.
Toyota may have ‘lost’ its ‘world’s largest car brand’ status to VW Group but, in terms of per unit profitability and efficiency, it remains the hands-down victor. In fact, things are not as good as they ought to be at VW, highlighting that its immense investment in EV technology may have been somewhat misplaced. While Toyota operates EVs in some areas, hydrogen fuel-cell technology is its slow-burn project, while hybrids remain the firm’s priority.
Toyota finds itself in something of a cleft stick with its compact Yaris. It has enjoyed giant-killing successes with its World Rallycar Programme since 2017, in a much-modified version of the car that, in hybrid form, has sold over 500,000 examples in Europe alone, since its 2012 introduction. Of course, Yaris history goes back to the turn of the Millennium, when it was first produced at the Valenciennes plant in northern France, which underscores its importance to Toyota (£270m has just been invested at the factory). The original Yaris looked intentionally like the Renault Clio of the period and building it in France overcame any import issues, while making it a model of which the French could be proud. It was a smart move.
You can rest assured that the new Yaris will continue rallying, which also insists that a GRMN sporty model will form part of the range’s future. Toyota is not about to squander the momentum that it has generated in this area, the GRMN potential adding rarity to desirability. However, it is all-change for the Yaris hybrid, which will now be powered by a new generation, 1.5-litre, three-cylinder petrol-electric engine. Details are scant at present but a punchy 1.0-litre unit is also expected to form part of a comprehensive model line-up.
Compact dimensions set Yaris apart from its rivals, where new cars tend to grow larger with each successive iteration. Interestingly, Toyota has reduced Yaris’s overall length by 5mm, but increased its wheelbase by 50mm and also its width by 50mm, while 40mm reduction in the height, without cramping the cabin, extols the benefits of the new platform. Occupants actually sit lower than before, in a platform that also lowers the centre of gravity, which makes the car even more agile and better handling. Attractive style lines in the flanks add dynamic value to the body shell. While the car’s lamps all feature LED technology, they include turn indicators that alternate with the daytime running lights, in the process resolving the confusion that arises with some DRL displays, which seem to get brighter with every new application.
The cabin pursues a ‘less-is-more’ principle, with an open and spacious area for the driver and front passenger, with marginally greater room for back seat occupants. Naturally, split-folding rear seats provide required amounts of practicality in the boot. High-quality materials include an innovative felt trim finish for the door panels and, for the first time in a Yaris, a soft-touch dashboard for much-enhanced refinement. Toyota has concentrated heavily in terms of tactility, operation and sound of the controls, colours, illumination, shapes, patterns, graphics and overall appearance, as it intends to make the new Yaris the car of choice in the compact segment. Enhanced feedback from controls is a subtle but very effective way to hike up the Yaris’s image.
Its ergonomic cockpit is developed around the concept of ‘hands on the wheel, eyes on the road’, using three interlinked sources: the central touchscreen, a TFT multi-information display in the digital instrument binnacle and a 10.0-inch full-colour head-up display that projects onto the windscreen, key driving data and warnings, such as navigation prompts and speed limits, within the driver’s field of view. As with most HUD systems, they are more restful for the driver’s eyes, as his field of focus does not have to alter significantly, when gathering information. The steering wheel size has been reduced and the dashboard level lowered for better overall visibility.
Toyota is more confident with its battery technology these days and the hybrid unit is now a lighter lithium-ion, rather than nickel-metal hydride type. It is said to provide 15% more power than before, allied to a 20% improvement in fuel economy. The new model promises the highest standards of connectivity and safety, Toyota boasting that the new Yaris will be THE safest car in class, when it is launched officially next year. Performance figures and prices will be announced nearer to that time.
Toyota’s current finger-on-the-pulse attitude suggests that it is more in charge of its destiny than any other worldwide brand. While Yaris may not be archetypal ‘company car fodder’, it is of benefit to essential users, not least with its reputation for total dependability. We have great fondness for Toyota products and the new Yaris is sure to be eagerly awaited over the coming months.
