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Feann Torr6 Mar 2014
NEWS

GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Toyota Aygo

X marks the spot for Toyota's brazen city car, with polarising love it or hate it styling

Toyota took the wraps off its new-look Aygo city car in Geneva this week, showing off one of the boldest designs in the Japanese car maker’s passenger vehicle range thus far.

The front end is dominated by a large 'X' and the vehicle's chief engineer, David Terai, says the daring design was intended to be contentious.

"My main driver was to create a car that people would fall in love with.

"If you aim for an emotional link between customer and design, you have to accept that tastes differ," he says.

"And in a crowded market place, it is better to have a design that half the people absolutely love, rather than one that nobody objects to. That is why the new Aygo wants to stand out," explains Terai.

The new model was co-developed alongside sister vehicles Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1, but the Toyota Aygo is by far the most audacious design.

"This time, even though the front doors and windscreen are the same, it's very different [from Peugeot and Citroen]," said Terai.

Aimed at young buyers, the design theme was influenced by 'J-Playful' youth culture from Japan, which is often represented by bold, outgoing forms that don't always adhere to the norm.

Asked what the X on the front of the car was all about, Terai said "It is a result of a soft sail looming up from a rigid box."

Weighing just 840kg, the compact Toyota measures 3455mm from bumper to bumper. If it came to Australia, its rivals would be cars like the Volkswagen up! and Mitsubishi Mirage.

The Toyota's 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine develops 51kW/95Nm and accelerates from 0-100km/h in 14.2 seconds.

Auto and manual gearboxes are available and the car's fuel consumption of just 4.1L/100km is helped along by an aerodynamic body.

Inside the car, Toyota appears to have taken a few cues from the Renault Clio, simplifying the centre stack with a bold touch-screen to control infotainment systems, under which sits the heater controls.

The interior, like the exterior, can be customised in a range of different colours too.

Toyota is also considering a hybrid upgrade for the Aygo, but it's unlikely to happen in this generation due to limitations in the platform, says Terai.

"For the future we have to study hybrid," he said, noting that he hopes the collaboration with Peugeot and Citroen continues, and that hybrid technology could be shared with the French.
"If the business case works [for a hybrid], I think we would share it with Peugeot and Citroen."

The polarising design of the new Aygo appears to be limited to the sub-light car at this stage, and Terai explained that the bold J-Playful-inspired design probably wouldn't be seen on other Toyota's in the near future.

The eye-catching Aygo is built in right-hand drive and sold in the UK and could be imported Down Under. Toyota Australia has previously hinted it wants a car to slot in beneath the Yaris -- the smallest car in the range -- but it's understood that it's not interested in selling the Aygo locally at this stage.

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