Get scared in compact SUVs: Toyota finally unveils the brand new Yaris Cross

In February, the global context was very different from what was later caused by the coronavirus, and brands were preparing their best suits for a big party at the Geneva Motor Show (canceled by the pandemic). So far Toyota would go to show its new bet for the growing niche of compact SUVs, a model at that time still without a name but that was the highlight of the Japanese. Things changed and finally only this Thursday Toyota presented the expected Yaris Cross.

As Aichi’s own firm anticipated, the compact family is mounted on the GA-B platform and will hit the market in 2021 with AWD-i electric all-wheel drive. Both its design and its development have taken place in Europe (in the Nice design center) and it will even be right there where it is manufactured, since its production will be in charge of the Valenciennes plant in France.

In its official statement, Toyota explains that the new Yaris Cross will have its fourth generation hybrid system. “The brand pioneered the implementation of a hybrid package on a B-segment vehicle, the Yaris hybrid, in 2012. As a result of unmatched accumulated experience, the new Yaris Cross system provides exceptional performance and efficiency,” he adds. This technology is identical to that already seen in the fifth generation hybrid RAV4 marketed in Chile since last year.

Along the same lines, the new SUV is put in the line of the firm’s familiar relatives. “It is a true off-roader, benefiting from Toyota’s experience after devising the off-road concept 25 years ago, with the RAV4 – the world’s best-selling in its class – and more recently with the production of the sophisticated and efficient Toyota C -HR. The elevated driving position and the availability of intelligent all-wheel drive reinforce the new Yaris Cross’s off-road status in its own right. ”

The Yaris Cross will house a set consisting of a new 1.5-liter three-cylinder gasoline engine inside the hood. The brand highlights that the block delivers high torque at low speed. He adds that the thermal efficiency of the engine is 40%, a higher value than comparable diesel engines, guaranteeing reduced levels of fuel consumption and emissions. Accompanying the combustion, there is a 59 kW electric propeller, in order to achieve a combined force of 116 horsepower. The model does not have a gearbox, but a planetary gear in charge of managing the connection between the motors and the wheels.

In January Toyota had already introduced the world’s most powerful three-cylinder engine, a heart that powers the new Yaris GR available in Japan and soon in Europe, and which delivers no less than 268 horsepower.

Finally, by sharing the platform with the Yaris 2020 (it does not correspond to the one sold in Chile), the Yaris Cross shares the wheelbase of 2,560 mm with said model. It measures 4,180 mm in length (+240 mm), 1,765 mm in width (+20 mm) and 1,560 mm in height (+90 mm). In its better equipped versions it will have 18-inch wheels.

In the first year of manufacture, Toyota will assemble more than 150 thousand units of the Yaris Cross, which will in turn have models such as the Citroën C3 Aircross, Ford Puma, Nissan Juke, Renault Captur, Seat Arona, Volkswagen. T-Cross and the Skoda Kamiq.