Toyota has launched the 2017 Vitz hatch, which to pretty much the rest of the world will be known as the new Yaris. The five-door city car’s global specification is a little hazy as of right now, but the Japanese automaker could elect to not change all that much when offering it globally.
What we can be more certain of is that exterior, which sports freshened-up looks at the front that’s a little more in-line with the brand’s newest corporate face, more resembling the 2017 Corolla now with a larger grille, more pronounced faux bumper side inlets, and a reshaped front illumination cluster with LED DRLs.
A notable identifier of the current dayYaris is its chrome strip that runs the lengths of the car’s nose, but seems to have been omitted here with the Vitz.
Down the sides, we don’t spy all that much that really counts as new, though the rear does have a some creases that recesses the profile and lends it a touch more sporty character over the outgoing car. LED illumination shows up here too.
Inside, the Vitz/Yaris seen here has a two-tone brown and black colour scheme applied to the seat upholstery and door trim. The general dashboard layout has not appears to be untouched.
Toyota does offer the Yaris elsewhere (and the Vitz seen here) as a hybrid, using a detuned 1.5-litre 1NZ-FXE petrol engine paired with an electric motor to produce a combined output of 74kW.
Down under, though, it will likely retain the engine range that currently powers the Yaris, specifically the 63kW 1.3-litres 2NZ-FE four-cylinder and the 80kW 1.5-litre 1NZ-FE four pot, with transmission options being either a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic.
The refreshed Yaris should be rolled out to other markets within these next few months with an Australian introduction within Q1 2017.
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