Toyota Yaris: the supermini sold under many names

The Toyota Yaris is a supermini sold since 1999, replacing the Starlet and Tercel. Until 2019 the name was used for export versions of various Japanese-market cars, some sold as the Toyota Echo through 2005; in 2020 the Yaris name replaced the Vitz in Japan, and the Yaris has sold 8.71 million units worldwide as of March 2020.

Toyota Yaris at a glance

Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the Toyota Yaris.

History of the Toyota Yaris

First generation (XP10/XP20; 1999)

The first-generation cars were sold between 1999 and 2005 as the Yaris or the Echo depending on market, as a hatchback or a sedan. The hatchback was developed with Europe in mind and designed by Toyota’s ED2 facility in France; apart from the front doors, it shared no exterior panels with the sedan. The hatchback came from the Japanese Vitz, and the sedan from the Platz.

Second and third generations

The second generation was sold from 2005 to 2013 worldwide as the Yaris, again as a hatchback or sedan, the latter derived from the Japanese Belta. The third generation arrived in 2011 as a hatchback only, with a sedan added in 2013 in some markets; the hatchback came from the XP130 Vitz for Europe, Australasia, South Africa and most of North America, and from the XP150 Yaris for much of Asia. American and Canadian Yaris hatchbacks moved from Japanese to French production in May 2013. From 2015 to 2020, the Yaris sedan and, from 2019, the Yaris hatchback sold in North America were restyled versions of the Mazda 2, produced by Mazda, and the XP130 hatchback was dropped in the United States in early 2019.

Fourth generation and the GR Yaris

The fourth-generation Yaris was unveiled on 16 October 2019 in Japan and Amsterdam, built on the GA-B platform under chief engineer Yasunori Suezawa and chief hybrid engineer Takashi Uehara. It went on sale in Japan on 10 February 2020, with the petrol four-wheel-drive version following in April, and the nameplate reached Japan itself that year, replacing the Vitz. A performance version from Toyota Gazoo Racing, the GR Yaris, was shown at the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon and went into production in September 2020 as a three-door homologation model for the World Rally Championship. A sedan arrived in August 2022 in Thailand as the Yaris Ativ, coded AC100 and developed by Daihatsu on its DNGA-B platform. North America did not receive the fourth-generation Yaris, and the name was dropped there in 2020. In 2022 a Mazda 2 Hybrid based on the XP210 Yaris Hybrid went on sale in Europe.

Design and features

• Many names: the Yaris has been the Echo, the Vitz and the Platz sedan in different markets.
• Four generations: from the French-designed XP10 to the GA-B XP210.
• GR Yaris: a three-door rally homologation special from Gazoo Racing.
• Mazda-built versions: North American Yaris cars were restyled Mazda 2s from 2015.

Toyota Yaris versions

• XP10/XP20 (1999): first generation, hatchback from the Vitz, sedan from the Platz.
• XP90 (2005): second generation with a Belta-based sedan.
• XP130 (2011): third-generation hatchback.
• XP150 (2013): Asian-market hatchback and Vios-based sedan.
• GR Yaris (2020): three-door rally homologation model.
• Yaris Ativ (2022): Daihatsu-developed sedan.

The Yaris replaced the Starlet and Tercel, shares its basis with the Vios sedan, and sits above the Aygo. The GR Yaris continues Toyota’s rally tradition, and more cars are in the Toyota collection.

Sources

• Toyota Yaris, English Wikipedia: generations, names, GR version