Toyota Vitz (Yaris) Hybrid Coming Soon
The upcoming Vitz (in Japan) / Yaris (everywhere else) hybrid is something else that is likely to be stealing some of the Prius’ sales appeal, putting further downward pressure on its sales after it has already lost its pre-eminent position in Toyota’s home market as I noted earlier today.
Although it is not expected to go on sale until 2012, the ever-expanding range of hybrid options even in the Toyota range itself must be drawing some potential buyers away from the original Prius.
In many ways, it makes a lot of sense to bring the hybrid technology to this small hatch segment that is most likely to be used solely for city driving, but the Vitz itself will be facing stiff competition from smaller and even more efficient models, such as VW’s hybrid Up, which is expected to return about 95 MPG.
