Toyota Vitz unveiled in Yokohama

Akio Toyoda, the President of Toyota Motors Corp was present at time of unveiling of the Toyota's revamped hatchback Toyota Vitz. The hatchback Toyota Vitz rivals against the leaders of the small car segment Honda Fit and Nissan March. As per the company's stats, it sold as many as 125,000 cars in the Japanese auto market by the end of the financial year in March 2010. Toyota Vitz fuel economy is 26.5 km/litre marked under the Japanese test methods which is currently more that the Japanese auto market hatchback segment leaders such as Nissan March that gives the mileage of 26.0 km/litre and Honda Fit that offers a mileage of 24.5 km/litre. The company looks for target sales of 10,000 Toyota Vitz in the Japanese auto market. The company has tagged the hatchback with a price of 1.06 million yen ($ 12,660). The company predicted before the unveiling of the hatchback, that in 2011 Toyota sales will witness a decline of 17 per cent of 1.3 million cars which will be registered as the biggest fall in the 37 years. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, on the other hand indicated a fall of 9.9 per cent in the overall market.

The Japanese government subsidies are supporting petrol-electric and the other advanced cars which has helped in the increment of the sales of Toyota Prius hybrid to maintain the levels till the time the subsidy expired in the beginning of September. In the Japanese auto market, Toyota's November sales fell down to 35 per cent from a year-on-year basis. It performed worse than the other car brands in the auto market. The government will run a separate incentive scheme which will exempt hybrid from few taxes till 2012. The total sales of Toyota Vitz, (in few auto markets it is christened as Toyota Yaris) has raised to 3.5 million cars in almost 70 countries since the hatchbacks first-generation car model was initially introduced in 1999.

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