TOYOTA’S SMALLEST, SPORTIEST HYBRID SUV
Toyota’s all-new Yaris Cross – due to go on sale here before the end of the year – draws on the Japanese company’s strong heritage of advanced hybrid technology, small car design and SUV engineering.
Adding FWD and AWD versions of the Yaris Cross to the line-up will give Toyota an SUV range that spans from the Yaris Cross, to the C-HR, RAV4, Highlander, Fortuner, Land Cruiser Prado and Land Cruiser 200 series.
The Yaris and Yaris Cross are the first models to use Toyota’s latest
1.5 hybrid system, developed directly from the 2.0 and 2.5-litre engines used by recent new models such as the Corolla, C-HR, RAV4 and Camry. This new 1.5-litre, three-cylinder Atkinson-cycle petrol engine, has been precision-engineered to reduce friction and mechanical losses and optimise combustion speed, resulting in high torque at low engine speeds and excellent fuel efficiency.
Yaris Cross follows its sibling hatchback model in adopting Toyota’s new GA-B vehicle platform. This ensures a high level of body rigidity and a well-balanced chassis, making the car responsive and agile.
The new ‘Cross’ version has the same 2,560 mm wheelbase as the new Yaris hatchback, but is 240 mm longer overall, with 60 mm added to the front overhang and 180 mm to the rear, securing more interior space. The ground clearance is 60 mm higher and the vehicle is taller and wider overall – by 90 and 20 mm respectively.
The foundation of the new Yaris Cross’s safety performance is its
TNGA-B platform, giving the car an exceptionally rigid body, with further benefits from Toyota Safety Sense active safety systems and advanced driver assistance functions, helping to avoid a wide range of common accident risks through driver information, early warnings and, when necessary, automatic braking and steering intervention.
The design process of Yaris Cross brought together a wide team from studios in both Europe and Japan. According to Lance Scott, Design General Manager at Toyota’s EDD studio in Nice, France: “Clearly, we wanted the car to be immediately perceived as a SUV, so we emphasised a higher ground clearance, a strong horizontal axis giving a great balance and poise, big squared wheel arches and of course big wheels… up to 18”!
Toyota New Zealand expects to introduce this model towards the end of 2020.