Toyota Yaris, Best-in-Class Fuel Economy in Japan

The new Yaris, or Vitz as it is called in Japan, achieves the lowest fuel consumption rating in Toyota's domestic market, leaving minicars and hybrids aside. According to official figures, the Yaris can reach a rating of 3.7 l/100km (62.3 mpg) thanks to its 1.3-liter gasoline engine with start stop system. And even if it's not equipped with a start-stop function, the car is capable of returning an impressive mileage, with official figures pointing to 4.1 l/100km (56.5 mpg).

What's interesting is that the configuration equipped with a 1.0-liter gasoline engine with start-stop system achieves 4 l/100km (57.6 mpg), which means it is less efficient than the version powered by the 1.3-liter unit.

What's interesting is that Toyota has always had in mind the idea of developing a very fuel efficient Yaris that would be able to compete with industry leaders. Back in 2009, the Japanese manufacturer hinted that a potential Yaris Hybrid could even challenge Honda Insight.

"We are developing a low-priced hybrid vehicle like Honda's Insight," Akihiko Otsuka, chief engineer of the redesigned, third-generation Toyota Prius, said at that time. "We are going to compete by expanding our hybrid-vehicle lineup to smaller hybrids, in the class of the Vitz and Yaris," he said without providing details on the official launch date.

A Yaris-based hybrid will be actually built in France starting 2012, alongside the regular Yaris, in a move supposed to improve the efficiency of the whole Toyota lineup. The Japanese manufacturer intends to have at least one hybrid version for each Lexus and Toyota models produced.