Toyota has surprised nobody by announcing that its newest city car will be called the Aygo X, as seen in this teaser image. And that’s pronounced “cross” in case you were wondering, underlining the 2022 car’s crossover vibe.
Due to be revealed in November this year ahead of an early 2022 on-sale date, the Aygo X is a production version of the Aygo X Prologue concept first shown in March this year.
It replaces the Aygo city car, a European Toyota showroom staple since 2005. But to set it apart from other A-segment city cars like the VW Up!, Toyota is giving the new car more ground clearance and visual attitude.
And that’s not the only change going on. While previous Aygos shared a platform and most components with the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1, this time Toyota is going it alone. The Aygo X will be built on a shortened version of the GA-B platform used by the bigger Yaris hatchback and Yaris Cross SUV, but at the same plant in the Czech Republic as the outgoing car.
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While Toyota’s single teaser image of the name badge and rear light cluster gives away nothing about the technical spec of the production car, the Aygo X Prologue concept’s 2430 mm (95.7-inch) wheelbase puts it halfway between the old Aygo (2340 mm/92.1-inch) and the current Yaris (2560 mm/100.8-inch).
Our spyshots of the production car undergoing testing reveal that while it retains the wheel-at-each-corner look of the concept, some of the show car’s flamboyance has been watered down by the loss of its giant (for a city car) 19-inch wheels.
Toyota didn’t reveal any powertrain details for the Prologue, but we’re not expecting to see any EV options due to Toyota’s desire to keep costs down in a segment where margins are much smaller than they are for luxury cars.
That means conventional small ICE motors will power the majority of the range though it’s possible that a self-charging hybrid, as found in the latest Yaris, could be added later at the top of the range.