Toyota Motor Japan has just launched the 2017 Vitz hatchback. It's the same car sold in Europe as the Yaris, so we could be looking at a global debut in Geneva two months from now. The redesign is pretty boring, but the commercials show it as a Lamborghini, a train, and a dump truck.
In Japan, the biggest headline grabber is that the Vitz can now be ordered with a 1.5-liter hybrid powertrain. But this is no novelty since the Prius c packs the same thing and the European Yaris has been offered as a hybrid since 2014. But it's not unlike Toyota to double down on hybrids.
This car is almost six years old now, and to give it some curb appeal, Toyota has installed a brand new front fascia. The design is as angular as on the Prius, but it still doesn't make the Vitz as hot as the Mazda2 or Honda Fit.
The grille is made to look bigger by using large black plastic inserts that go all the way up to the protruding nose of the car. New bi-beam LED headlights and revised fog lights have been installed without changing the overall appearance of the old units.
Around the back, the sides of the bumper have been scooped out while the taillights have LED signatures. It's a design that closely mirrors that of the bigger Auris hatchback.
The cabin of the 2017 Vitz is not what you'd call cutting-edge, with the radio being replaced by a piece of plastic. Barrel Brown upholstery is used for the vinyl-bolstered seats and the door cards now. But otherwise, it's a real mess in there, with miss-matched buttons and air vents.
The engine range retails the old 1-liter unit with 69 horsepower and its 99 horsepower sister, the 1NR-FJE. However, a hybrid system is now available on top-end 2017 Vitz models, as we've mentioned already. This system combines a 1.5-liter Atkinson cycle four-cylinder with an electric motor to deliver a combined 100 horsepower and mileage of 34.4 km/L (JC08 cycle).
This car is almost six years old now, and to give it some curb appeal, Toyota has installed a brand new front fascia. The design is as angular as on the Prius, but it still doesn't make the Vitz as hot as the Mazda2 or Honda Fit.
The grille is made to look bigger by using large black plastic inserts that go all the way up to the protruding nose of the car. New bi-beam LED headlights and revised fog lights have been installed without changing the overall appearance of the old units.
Around the back, the sides of the bumper have been scooped out while the taillights have LED signatures. It's a design that closely mirrors that of the bigger Auris hatchback.
The cabin of the 2017 Vitz is not what you'd call cutting-edge, with the radio being replaced by a piece of plastic. Barrel Brown upholstery is used for the vinyl-bolstered seats and the door cards now. But otherwise, it's a real mess in there, with miss-matched buttons and air vents.
The engine range retails the old 1-liter unit with 69 horsepower and its 99 horsepower sister, the 1NR-FJE. However, a hybrid system is now available on top-end 2017 Vitz models, as we've mentioned already. This system combines a 1.5-liter Atkinson cycle four-cylinder with an electric motor to deliver a combined 100 horsepower and mileage of 34.4 km/L (JC08 cycle).