Guangzhou Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., a venture of Toyota Motor Corp. in China, debuted its global strategic small car model Yaris in China on April 9, 2008.
The car, which has five editions of two displacement types, one of 1.3L and four of 1.6L, is powered by DOHC (double overhead camshaft) and dual VVT-i engine, which is also adopted in Corolla, a medium-grade sedan model of Toyota.
The venture hopes to build the car as the No. 1 brand in the country small car market, which suffered market shrinkage in 2007 with market share dropped to 30% from 34% in 2006 and sales declined 24%.
However, the market is expected to turn around this year as Mazda2, new Vios, new Fit as well as Yaris are introduced and oil price continues to rise. Other factors such as the addition of fuel oil tax, gas emission tax, and pollutant tax and the improving transportation infrastructure in second and third tiers cities are good signs for the prosperity of small car market this year.
