Yaris gets €85m makeover
But the Supermini C-segment market is so important that Toyota has spent this unusually large amount of money tarting up the third generation of the Yaris, which was originally seen in 2011. Their reasoning is simple: sell more cars.
Next year, Toyota aims to secure 6.5% of the European C-segment market with this new car, and in Ireland the aim is that the Yaris will be better-equipped to tackle the top-selling Fiesta, and stay ahead of the chasing pack of Clios, Polos, and so on.
Project chief, Junichi Mitsuhashi, says while the Yaris was popular, Toyota wanted to increase its emotional appeal to customers and thus worked on four areas: the exterior design, the interior, driving pleasure and equipment levels, and so they introduced 1,000 new parts and invested 576,000 man hours on the revised car.
The new Yaris — which will be in the dealer network in Ireland next month — will have a choice of three engines, two petrol, one diesel and a hybrid. The body structure is now 20% stiffer, the front and rear suspensions have been redesigned, NVH has been drastically reduced, and several new grade structures have been introduced.
While prices have yet to be confirmed, Toyota Ireland says it hopes the price will approximate the €14,995 it currently costs, and the company says it is confident that cost increases will be ‘marginal.’
The big hope for the company — both here and across Europe — is that the Hybrid version (currently priced from €19,995) will become more of a mainstay seller. Hybrids account for one-third of all Yaris sales here and while there is an acknowledged premium on these cars, Toyota wants to get the message out there that the running-cost savings, over time, will make it a worthwhile deal.
The new car has a much smarter looker than previously — no surprise there, particularly as 75% of the budget was spent on design — and Toyota says it is very significant that its European design department was given a free hand by Japan.
On top of that the work the company has done on the car’s the upgrade to the interior now makes the Yaris more of a contender against the Fiesta, Polo and Clio. The aim is increase the car’s appeal to younger males, as well as its traditional customers, and the ability of the buyer to personalise the interior will attract new punters.
Having driven the car extensively across northern Germany this week, I can tell you that the investment Toyota has made will definitely broaden the car’s across-the-board sales potential.
More importantly, those changes have also made the car a better drive, but we will reserve full judgement until we get our hands on one here in Ireland. The initial signs, however, are very good.
