Photo: Toyota
Introduced for the 2011 model year, the current-generation Toyota Yaris is not a vehicle we’d call outdated. The European model is about to get a facelift and we won’t see a redesigned vehicle until 2016 or 2017.
Not the same can be said about the American market Yaris, which could arrive a bit earlier, but there’s something far more interesting about this matter. There won’t be a next-gen US-spec Yaris, but a Mazda-powered replacement.
Yes, that’s right, the subcompact will get a Toyota-designed body, but will be based on the upcoming Mazda2 and motivated by the automaker’s high-compression, fuel-injected Skyactiv gasoline engine.
The big news comes from Keishi Egawa, CEO of Mazda operations in Mexico, who says Toyota will make “model-specific investments”, including “stamping, dies, some interior design work” at Mazda’s assembly plant in North America.
The facility, which has a full annual capacity of 230,000 units, will build about 50,000 vehicle for Toyota. Production is expected to begin sometime between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016, a few months after the first 2015 Mazda2 subcompacts emerge.
Automotive News reports that a Toyota spokesman confirmed the company’s plans for a Mazda2-based, Mexican-built replacement for the Yaris, but declined to comment on what Skyactiv technologies will be found in the vehicle.
But until the new model goes into production, you might as well enjoy the current Yaris, which was recently named the most reliable car of 2013 by Carbuyer.
Yes, that’s right, the subcompact will get a Toyota-designed body, but will be based on the upcoming Mazda2 and motivated by the automaker’s high-compression, fuel-injected Skyactiv gasoline engine.
The big news comes from Keishi Egawa, CEO of Mazda operations in Mexico, who says Toyota will make “model-specific investments”, including “stamping, dies, some interior design work” at Mazda’s assembly plant in North America.
The facility, which has a full annual capacity of 230,000 units, will build about 50,000 vehicle for Toyota. Production is expected to begin sometime between April 1, 2015, and March 31, 2016, a few months after the first 2015 Mazda2 subcompacts emerge.
Automotive News reports that a Toyota spokesman confirmed the company’s plans for a Mazda2-based, Mexican-built replacement for the Yaris, but declined to comment on what Skyactiv technologies will be found in the vehicle.
But until the new model goes into production, you might as well enjoy the current Yaris, which was recently named the most reliable car of 2013 by Carbuyer.
Google News