Toyota Yaris - the hatchback is 'hot' again in Vietnam

Aimed at young customers who value practicality and value for money, Toyota Yaris has quickly dominated demanding markets like Europe and is also expanding in the B-class hatchback segment in Vietnam.

Born in 1999 to replace its predecessor Starlet, Toyota Yaris is also known as Echo in many markets in the first generation or Vitz, Platz or Belta in Japan. The name Yaris itself is adapted from "Charis", the name of the Greek goddess representing creativity, fertility with charming natural beauty. True to its name, Yaris has always been the car model with the most unique design in the Toyota family.

This is true for the main customer segment that the Japanese automaker wants to target - the young middle class aged 18 - 34. These are dynamic, individualistic customers who like a youthful, fresh, flexible urban car at an affordable price, if not quite cheap. Toyota representatives once said that about 30% of Yaris sales in the US will come from people under 30 years old. The car has many different variations from 3-door/5-door hatchbacks to sedans and coupes to meet the diverse needs of young customers.

It is known that the top priority when developing Yaris was to solve the fuel and CO2 emission problems that were being noticed in Japan and especially Europe at that time. In addition, Toyota also tried to bring youthfulness to this small car with a unique design - an element that its predecessor Starlet (produced from 1973 - 1999) was lacking. Toyota CEO also enthusiastically described it with the short phrase, "bold and mischievous".

The creative director in charge of advertising for Toyota America also did not hesitate to praise: "We gave this car a voice, gave it a personality and created a world where it can live." Indeed, whether it is the first generation or the third generation today, Yaris has always been a car with personality in the famously conservative Toyota family.

Of course, that's an old story, with the innovative design language applied to a series of new generation products such as Fortuner, Innova, Hilux, the appearance of the car models from Japan has been completely transformed like its luxury brother Lexus. Thanks to the emphasis on design, spacious interior, durability and fuel economy, Yaris has quickly achieved many successes right from the first years of its launch, being honored in many prestigious car magazines and winning the car of the year award in both Europe and Japan.

In fact, in a survey in the UK, along with the BMW X5, the Toyota Yaris was the two models that owners recommended to their friends to buy the most, with a rate of up to 92%. Talking about the third generation, AutoTrader was even more generous: "Indeed, the Yaris may not be a superstar, but it is a strong competitor in the segment with high resale value, proven reliability and a beautiful design that continues to be maintained."

Initially, Yaris was aimed at the European and American markets before coming to China. Unfortunately, although it is still a popular car, the "practical and unconventional" style of Yaris makes it unable to succeed in the US like its brothers Camry or Corolla, although there was a time when sales reached over 100,000 cars/year. However, the car is very successful in the old continent, a difficult market that values ​​practicality, and is more "worth the money" with sales of 182,407 cars last year.

In China, this is also a best-selling car model thanks to its targeting of the young middle class that makes up the majority of the population in the world's most populous market, growing strongly since 2014 when the third generation began to be sold in mass. This is also the time when Toyota brought Yaris to penetrate more strongly into the Southeast Asian market including Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Recently, the car won the best hatchback award in the 1.2-liter engine segment in the land of the Golden Temple.

In Vietnam, Yaris is a fairly new name in the B-class car segment when it first entered the market in 2011, but it was not until 2014 that it made a stronger comeback. However, since 2008, the "hand-carried" market has known this car model as a private import and has been favored by many women thanks to its soft, feminine design, durability, and low breakdown rate, fuel consumption, and depreciation. Along with the Vios sedan, the Yaris hatchback is one of two strategic models attacking the B-class car segment in Vietnam.

Currently, the latest version of Yaris in Vietnam, which was just launched in September, has helped Toyota increase its influence in the segment by nearly 4 times in 2 months. Specifically, only 127 Yaris cars were sold in September, but by October, it had nearly doubled to 228 cars and unexpectedly reached 384 cars in October, a not small number for a completely imported car, far surpassing many hatchback competitors in the same segment.

The hatchback's surprisingly rapid growth is mainly due to the new 1.5-liter 2NR-FE engine with 107 horsepower and 140 Nm of torque, significantly higher than its predecessor while fuel consumption remains low at around 5.7 liters/100 km. In addition, better entertainment equipment, durability, imported car quality and high resale value also contribute significantly.

In Vietnam, Toyota distributes two versions, Yaris 1.5E priced at 636 million VND and 1.5G priced at 689 million VND.

According to TNO