Despite several challenges confronting automobile sales and marketing due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Toyota Motor Corporation has predicted huge sales for the new Toyota Yaris Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) Cross.
Indeed, the kind of digital online launch that welcomed the new SUV could become the new norm for the next year, or at least until restrictions surrounding new car launches and automotive events lift once the coronavirus pandemic eases.
Initially planned to debut at the canceled Geneva Motor Show in early March, the globally strategic Toyota Yaris Cross was unveiled last week on Toyota’s website.
The new vehicle sits on the firm’s TNGA platform and employs the same wheelbase as the recently released Yaris compact.
In fact you could say that the Yaris Cross is the Yaris’s big brother, boasting longer overhangs, a one-inch higher ride height and more space inside.
It also gets a hybrid engine option and a choice of front or all-wheel drive. Toyota’s decision to plonk a larger SUV body on the Yaris’s platform is a smart move given the huge popularity of crossovers in recent years through which these utilitarian body styles have captured roughly half the market.
According to experts, the vehicle is in contrast to the Yaris which has the classic looks of a sporty hatch with its sizable grille, large headlights and wedge-shape, the Yaris Cross takes the model’s styling to the next level, to a look that will no doubt appeal to an increasing customer base.
Under the hood, the Yaris Cross employs a frugal 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine that will be available in conventional gasoline and THS-II hybrid configurations.
Customers will be able to choose from a keenly priced front-drive version or a new, on-demand all-wheel drive system and select from a 6-speed manual or a CVT.
