BERLIN: While most manufacturers are scaling back or discontinuing their supermini cars for cost reasons, Toyota is doubling down with a new generation of its urban runabout, the Aygo.
And yet this time, the Aygo will be significantly larger and will also bring quite a few SUV leanings when it returns in the first half of 2022, the manufacturer has announced.
That's why the company - clearly worried about its baby Aygo losing ground in the SUV frenzy - is now also giving the new five-door supermini a more grown-up, crossover-like name: the Aygo X.
The X in the name is all about extra space: Built on the platform of its big brother Yaris, the Aygo has grown in wheelbase by 9cm, in length by 24cm and in width by 13cm.
With a length of 3.70m, Toyota promises noticeably more space for rear-seat passengers. The boot, meanwhile, is more than 60 litres larger than before and now holds 231 to 829 litres.
You won't find much of an X feeling under the bonnet, mind, and even though space has increased, this is still meant to be an affordable car for city trips and commutes.
Propulsion comes from a three-pot petrol engine with 72hp from one litre of displacement (you can get it as a manual or with a continuously variable automatic transmission).
The Aygo X accelerates from 0 to 100kph in 15.5 seconds at best and has a top speed of 158kph. Toyota puts fuel consumption at 4.7 litres and CO2 emissions at 110 g/km.
Toyota has not yet announced a price, but given the new format, it's likely to be considerably more expensive than the current model, which sells for at least €13,290 (around RM64,000) in Europe.
