Toyota News: Could Toyota Use the Mazda2 Hatchback as the New Yaris Hatch?

[William Maley]

It came as no surprise that Toyota decided to drop the Yaris Liftback for 2019 - they only sold 1,940 models last year. In our original report, Toyota spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell dropped an interesting bit of information by revealing they would have news on the 2020 Yaris at New York. Car and Driver has a possible guess as to what it could be - a rebadged Mazda2 hatchback.

Some quick background: The current Toyota Yaris sedan is just a rebadged version of the Mazda2 sedan sold elsewhere in the world. It was introduced back in 2016 as the Scion iA and then became the Yaris iA a year later.

Car and Driver is expecting the hatchback version to get the same front end as the Yaris sedan, while the rest of the body is unchanged. Power will remain the 1.5L inline-four teamed with either a six-speed manual or automatic.

Source: Car and Driver

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[G. David Felt]

We need these entry level auto's for peeps but have to say I am not excited by the look of the vehicle.

[A Horse With No Name]

17 minutes ago, dfelt said:

We need these entry level auto's for peeps but have to say I am not excited by the look of the vehicle.

Exactly. And let Toyota build them. Ford, Chrysler, GM and others build more upscale and exciting vehicles. I will happily concede this portion of the market to Toyota.

 

[Drew Dowdell]

*Mazda

[A Horse With No Name]

2 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

*Mazda

Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, KIA, Nissan....

[G. David Felt]

29 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

*Mazda

China Fit in there somewhere? ?

[ocnblu]

Great news for lovers of fun to drive, tiny hatches!  I just hope the Toyota front end is not as weird as the sedan's.  This is light years nicer than the outgoing Yaris hatch.

Edited January 30, 2019 by ocnblu
ugh, I guess the large mouth bass front end is coming to the hatch as well...

[riviera74]

Small cars don't really sell anymore.  Let GM stick with the Trax and Encore and XT4.

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

Great news for lovers of fun to drive, tiny hatches!  I just hope the Toyota front end is not as weird at the sedan's.  This is light years nicer than the outgoing Yaris hatch.

Having driven a Mazda 2 yes...correct.

[ocnblu]

There are ppl who only ever buy subcompacts, no matter their station in life or their age.  Those ppl are being written off unfairly.

[loki]

why not, they almost have it anyway in the US... Yaris iA sedan

[G. David Felt]

11 hours ago, ocnblu said:

There are ppl who only ever buy subcompacts, no matter their station in life or their age.  Those ppl are being written off unfairly.

Naw, plenty of asian choices in that auto segment, so they are not being written off, just being pointed at a few less choices.