“Toyota Vitz Returns as Badge-Engineered Hatchback for African Market”

The name Vitz is well known to fans of right-hand drive JDM models: from 1999 to 2019, Toyota called Yaris hatchbacks for the Japanese market. However, with the release of the fourth generation car, it was decided to abandon the local name Vitz: in Japan, these hatchbacks are sold under the name Toyota Yaris. And now, four years later, Vitz has returned to the global range of the Japanese company. But now this is just the fruit of badge engineering, intended for African countries.

The debut of the new hatchback took place at the end of January, and only now the cars have appeared on sale at Toyota dealers in South Africa. The new Toyota Vitz is a clone of the 2021 Suzuki Celerio hatchback, created as part of a collaboration between the two companies. That is, this five-door is on a par with the Glanza / Starlet, Belta, Rumion and Urban Cruiser Hyryder models, which are made from the cars of the Indian joint venture Maruti Suzuki with minimal investment.

Toyota Vitz differs from Suzuki Celerio only in emblems and nameplates. Didn’t even have to redo the grille. The five-door hatchback with a length of 3695 mm has a five-seat interior and is equipped with a three-cylinder liter engine that produces only 67 hp. and 89 Nm. Gearboxes – a five-speed “mechanics” or its robotic version with one clutch.

Toyota needs the Vitz to secure a place in the cheapest market segment at minimal cost. Previously, the company supplied Indonesian-made Toyota Agya hatchbacks to Africa, but the transition to the Indian Celerio-Vitz made it possible to reduce logistics costs and even lower the final price. If Agya in South Africa cost from $ 10,400, then for Vitz they are now asking from $ 9,900. Interestingly, the original Suzuki Celerio is also sold here, and in exactly the same trim levels, and costs even less: from $9,600.