Toyota launches all-new Yaris Cross

The subcompact crossover market is still on full throttle, relatively speaking. Toyota announces that its new compact SUV, the Yaris Cross, originally planned to be revealed at the 2020 Geneva Motor Show, has made its world debut. As a new SUV that inherits the qualities of the brand’s flagship compact car, Yaris, Yaris Cross will be launched in Japan in Autumn this year, and in Europe mid- 2021. Here’s the news from Toyota:

Behind the new Yaris Cross was a goal to develop a vehicle that can help redefine what an urban-type compact SUV should be, sharing the same driving pleasure and feeling beyond its class as the Yaris brand.

The new Yaris Cross measures 4,180 mm long x 1,765 mm wide x 1,560 mm tall, on a 2,560 mm wheelbase. It’s powered by a 1.5-liter inline three-cylinder Dynamic Force Engine, paired with Direct Shift-CVT or 6-speed manual. The Yaris Cross is front-wheel drive.

There will also be a hybrid version, with available E-Four electric four-wheel-drive system.

By adopting the all-new hybrid system and the TNGA platform (GA-B) for compact cars, the “Yaris Cross” offers a higher dimension of basic and environmental performance. Also, the vehicle achieves an easy-to-handle body size while providing SUV-like interior comfort and luggage room. The exterior design, though simple, expresses the robustness of an SUV. The interior design is also shaped to give it a feeling of higher quality and comfort.

The new vehicle follows last year’s debut of the all-new Yaris, unveiled in October 2019 as the next-generation compact car, which brought enhanced driving pleasure, the world’s highest level of fuel effifciency for its class thanks to its use of Toyota’s latest hybrid system, as well as advanced safety and security technologies.

Yaris debuted in 1999 and manufactured under the spirit of building a global standard for compact cars. Since then, approx. 8.71 million units (as of March 2020) have been sold globally as the flagship model of Toyota’s compact car business.

Yaris Cross will be manufactured at Toyota Motor East Japan Co., Ltd. for the Japan market, and at Toyota Motor Manufacturing France for the European market.