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2011 Toyota Yaris Launched In Japan

While an Australian launch is more than six months into the future, the brand-new 2011 Toyota Yaris has made its Japanese-market debut this week.

Putting to rest whatever doubts remained on the validity of a number of images that surfaced in Octobe

Mike Stevens

00:4223 December 2010

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2011 Toyota Yaris Launched In Japan

While an Australian launch is more than six months into the future, the brand-new 2011 Toyota Yaris has made its Japanese-market debut this week.

Putting to rest whatever doubts remained on the validity of a number of images that surfaced in October, the new Yaris continues the updated Corolla's unique theme of sharp points against a curvaceous body.

Sold in Japan as the Vitz, the new Yaris is the same width as its predecessor, while growing 100mm from front to back and losing 30mm off the top. It's also some 30kg lighter, now weighing in at around 1000kg.

Toyota is also beating its drum on the special new UV-reducing gloss in the front doors of the 2011 Yaris, which have been decided to block out up to 99 percent of UV light.

Australian specifications won't be revealed until sometime next year, but in Japan the Yaris will be driven by a line-up of petrol powertrains ranging in size from 1.0 to 1.5 litres (the current Australian model features 1.3 and 1.5 litre engines).

Unlike Australia, but very common in its home market, the Japanese Yaris will be offered in both front- and all-wheel-drive layouts, mated to either Toyota's Super CVT-i automatic or a traditional five-speed manual transmission.