A replacement for the discontinued Toyota Urban Cruiser could well be on the cards for emerging markets, albeit this time without any input from Suzuki’s Maruti division in India.
By Toyota from Daihatsu
While widely reported last year that the incoming Taisor, spun off from the Suzuki Fronx would serve as the Urban Cruiser’s replacement, the newcomer will seemingly originate from Toyota’s ownership of Daihatsu using the latter’s DNGA platform that currently underpins the Raize and Rocky, as well as the Avanza and Xenia.
Citing alleged sources with knowledge of the project, Thailand’s headlightmag.com reports that the new model, rumoured to be called Yaris Crossover despite it not being set in stone just yet, could debut as early as the third quarter of this year or towards the end year before entering serious production in 2024.
Unlike the Yaris Cross sold in Europe and Australia, the Yaris Crossover won’t have any relations to its namesake that uses the TNGA-B underpinnings from the internally designated XP210 Yaris hatch currently sold in South Africa only in GR guise.
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Instead, it will share its platform with not only the models mentioned, but also the Asian market AC100 Yaris ATIV sedan that went on sale in Thailand last year and subsequently in other markets on the continent badged as the Toyota Vios.
While powered mainly by a 1.2-litre petrol engine hooked to a CVT, headlightmag.com claims that the Yaris Crossover will have a choice of two engines both more powerful than that of the ATIV and Vios; a conventional 1.5-litre petrol pair and a so-called smart hybrid that pairs a similarly sized engine to an electric motor.
Similar to Nissan’s e-Power unit though, the latter option’s internal combustion unit will function solely as a generator for the electric motor that will provide the main propulsion to the front axle.
Although set to retain certain components from the Yaris ATIV, a number of the Yaris Crossover’s chassis elements will be new in order for it to venture not far from the beaten track.
Where does South Africa stand?
In addition to markets in Asia where neither the Rocky or Raize are sold, speculation has already started that the Yaris Crossover could be the the Urban Cruiser’s successor in South Africa based on a number of subtle murmurings at the recent State of the Motor Industry Address (Somi).
As is well known by now, the Urban Cruiser name will remain on local soil, but on the model sold in India as the Urban Cruiser Hyryder without the hybrid denoting suffix.
In effect, this leaves a gap in the automaker’s lineup that won’t be filled by the Raize deemed early on as being unsuitable from a pricing standpoint.
Although Toyota’s partnership with Maruti Suzuki will continue as evident by not only the Urban Cruiser shown at Somi, but also the new Vitz spun-off of the Celerio that will replace the Agya later this year, the Yaris Crossover will mark an indirect return to South Africa for Daihatsu since its departure in 2015.
Although little else about the newcomer is known at present, expect details to emerge in due course either as spy images or leaked specification details.
