First look: Yaris replaces Echo

IN JUST two weeks, the nation’s top-selling vehicle brand will replace its top-selling light car, the Echo, with an all-new model called Yaris.

The redesigned Toyota micro made its Australian public debut in Sydney last week, and will go into battle with Holden’s new cut-price Daewoo-built Barina and Ford’s facelifted Fiesta.

The Echo replacement takes on the name it has assumed for some time in Europe, where more than 11,000 examples of the new Yaris were sold in the first half of this year to make it Toyota’s most popular model there.

Yaris, manufactured in a modern Toyota plant in France as well as in Japan, replaces a model that has been the light-car market leader for 27 of the past 30 months, with some 20,000 examples of Toyota Australia’s final Echo expected to be sold this year.

Pricing and engine/transmission options will not be confirmed until the October 24 launch.