New sedan in town

Toyota had confirmed that it will be launching the Yaris sedan in India and unveiled it at the expo. The car is built with the philosophy of it being the new value pioneer and will be positioned in between the Etios and the Corolla and targeted at the upper middle class customer. Toyota promises that the Yaris will have best-in segment safety, class leading technologies, superior comfort, dynamic performance and an advanced emotional design. The company feels that the car will be distinctive in a cluttered segment with a wide lower front grille, LED line guides for turn indicators, jewelled rear fog lamps on the exteriors and a waterfall design center cluster on the interiors. It will be equipped with many class leading features including roof-mounted air conditioning vents for the rear seat passengers, seven airbags, rear camera with both front and rear parking sensors, traction control, a tyre pressure monitoring system and hill start assist. It will be powered by a 1.5-litre dual VVT-I petrol engine mated to a CVT (with 7-speeds in manual mode) and a 6-speed manual transmission. We expect it to be launched in the middle of this year and it will take on the Hyundai Verna and the Honda City.

YARIS WILL BE EQUIPPED WITH ROOF-MOUNTED AIR CONDITIONING VENTS FOR THE REAR SEAT PASSENGERS, SEVEN AIRBAGS, REAR CAMERA WITH FRONT AND REAR PARKING SENSORS, TPMS AND HILL START ASSIST