Toyota Belta
Vorlage:Infobox Automobile Vorlage:Infobox Automobile generation Vorlage:Infobox Automobile generation The Toyota Belta is a Toyota Vitz-based sedan that replaced the Toyota Platz (originally launched by Toyota Motor Corporation in 1999) in Japan and the Toyota Echo sedan (as the Platz is known as) in North America. The redesigned sedan goes on sale in North America starting 2006. Renamed the Toyota Yaris sedan for North America, the Belta arrives for 2006. The Belta is equipped with 1.0 to 1.3 L engines in Japan and a 1.5 L from the Scion xA, xB and the Toyota Echo sedan. The hatchback variant of the Belta and Platz is the Toyota Vitz. In some parts of South East Asia (not including Hong Kong and Japan), a modified version of the Platz sedan with different body panels is sold under the name Toyota Vios.
First generation (1999–2005)
The Platz was sold in North America first in 2000 under the name of Echo and available only as a sedan with 2 or 4 doors.
The running gear is shared with the Toyota bB and Ist, sold in the United States as the Scion xA and xB, and with the Japan-only Toyota Will Vi. The same CP platform is the base for the Japanese-only Probox and Succeed wagons.
In the United States, the Echo has been a rare flop for Toyota. The initial year of almost 50,000 sales was promising, but after the Echo sold just half that many in 2003, the model was no longer stocked at dealerships. It was an element of Toyota Project Genesis, a failed effort to bring younger buyers to the marque in the United States. Despite poor American sales, it sold in very high volumes in Canada, where smaller cars are much more popular than in the US.
In Australia, the Toyota Echo manufactured between 1999-2004, was assessed in the Used Car Safety Ratings 2006[1] as providing "average" protection for it's occupants in the event of a crash.
Second generation (2006–)
The Belta and Yaris comes in a variety of models, much like the outgoing Platz and Echo, but that is all that the two cars have in common. The Vitz hatchback model and the Belta share underpinnings with each other. However, the Vitz was designed at Toyota's European design studios while the Belta was designed at Toyota's Japanese design studios - two completely different design projects for similar cars marketed toward different demographics. The Belta out-proportions the outgoing Platz, as well as out does it. The Yaris sedan has styling that the Echo Sedan could never stand to. While the outgoing Vitz and Platz models look and feel virtually alike (the only things the cars don't share is the front clip, lights, rear doors and bodies from behind the B-pillar), the new Vitz and Belta are much more subtly related. While the dashboards are similar, they are not the same. The cars only share a frame and the drivetrain options. Any sheetmetal is completely different. The doors, again, look similar, but are not the same. And the trim levels for the cars are far from each other. The Vitz goes sport with the RS package, while the Belta goes sportier or more towards luxury with the XS package and the XG package. Where as the Vitz is designed to be a cute car, the Belta is designed as a sedan.
The Canadian version of the Yaris sedan, which is simply called the Yaris, is based on the American Yaris S with power and all-weather guard packages, but with stardard 14 inch wheels. Option packages comes in one of B, C, D, or Aero packages. The B adds 15 in all-season tires, chrome trim on the decklid, front and rear splash guards, colour-keyed door handles, blacked-out side window frames, keyless entry and power door locks; the C adds ABS, air conditioning, power windows, colour-keyed mirrors and power mirrors; the D adds both side and side-curtain airbags; the Aero adds aluminum alloy wheels, wheel locks, a rear spoiler, and a body kit. The D, however, does not have air conditioning or side airbags.
US sales
- 2000 - 48,876
- 2001 - 42,464
- 2002 - 30,859
- 2003 - 26,167
- 2004 - 3,593 (until November)