UMW Toyota to release new model in 2 months
UMW Toyota managing director David Chen said in an interview that Toyota would be introducing several new models this year. They will be CBU units as previously reported, and the first will come in 2 months time, which would be somewhere at the end of April or the beginning of May.
The new car will be a CBU model, and it will be a small-sized car. It could be the Toyota Aygo, but rumours are that it’s the Toyota Yaris, also known as the Toyota Vitz or the Toyota Belta.
A bit of name confusion here, but let me clear it up for you. The Toyota Vitz is a little sporty hatchback while the Toyota Belta is a Vitz with a boot, recently launched in Japan. In other markets, the Toyota Yaris hatchback is the Toyota Vitz while the Toyota Yaris sedan is the Toyota Belta. They are available in 1.0 liter and 1.3 liter engine options. Photos of the sedan and hatch are in the image above.
I’m not sure whether the sedan or hatch would be introduced here though. It’s likely the hatchback, as the sedan form with CBU tax brackets would probably cost near to the Toyota VIOS price range, and having two city sedans in that price range doesn’t make sense.
UMW Toyota’s target for this year is to break the 100,000 cars sold figure. It sold 92,000 last year. Other cars like the Toyota Camry and Toyota Corolla Altis will continue to be on sale as usual, but the Toyota Corolla Altis will face competition from the new 2006 Honda Civic this year, so I’m not sure if Toyota will facelift it again or introduce a new model. Toyota’s market share is 16%, and is the leader in the non-national car segment for 16 years continuously.
February 24, 2006 @ 4:46 am
I certainly hope that the Yaris comes to Malaysia. There are like millions of them running in Australia (exaggerating lar). The Belta should be a very pleasant transition to take over the Vios as it should have more space and is more economical.
Can’t sleep eh Paul??? lol
February 24, 2006 @ 8:52 am
I heard that the new model will be rm50k+, not too sure becoz the source is from my uncle who know toyota people quite well(he got a camry and a harrier)
February 24, 2006 @ 9:14 am
hm…………so near yet so far…………for me
February 24, 2006 @ 9:40 am
Woo then i should wait for it.
Coz was thinking to get Swift…..
Ya actually i heard this bfore from my fren a toyota salesman. But he also not sure wat model is it.
At first i taught is the Toyota Ractis. That one is cool.
February 24, 2006 @ 10:02 am
Isn’t the Belta and Vios the same car only the differences is the bumper,lamps and bonnet?
February 24, 2006 @ 11:01 am
the most probable model to be launced here in 2 monts time is the JDM spec Vitz with a 1.5litre engine and most probably cost similar to the suzuki swift. The 1.3 and 1.0 models probably wont be sold here as its sales will overlap with the Myvi (BTW the new Vitz shares the same chassis as the Myvi).
February 24, 2006 @ 11:45 am
I read recently from the newspapers that one of the transportation safety organisations in the US stated that small cars, no mater how many safety features it had, were more prone to fatalities than bigger-sized cars.
Having said that, there is always a place in every market for small cars as it serves a basic need. I just hope people who buy small cars will have the sense to drive carefully as I noticed a lot of such drivers tend to go very fast.
February 24, 2006 @ 12:08 pm
I more prefer to have Vitz than Belta coz Belta look kinda weird. The grill not match with the headlamp, the backlamp is ugly.
February 24, 2006 @ 12:58 pm
Kind of agree with “… said” said, Yaris do have 1.5liter option launched at Thailand last year. Began end of last year, Toyota salesmen already accepted for booking liao. They told me that the Yaris hatchback model gonna cost close to Jazz aka RM90~100K to compete with Jazz directly.
1.0 and 1.3 liter most probably won’t be sold here…
February 24, 2006 @ 2:38 pm
Wahlaueh…
CBU models… it will sure cost a lot higher… & marking near 100k. But, i believe very soon,… CKD models will be available with reasonable good price tag. Year 2006, i believe we will see a lot of new models coming out from all car manufacturer to capture the market. Haha P1, we will see how can you survive in this stift competition.
As relix said, it will cost ~rm50k, i think only for vehicle price without all sort of taxes.
i have some photos of Yaris interior & exterior. almost similar to current VIOS. Paul, what’s e-mail.
February 24, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
Please let the Yaris be Rm50K plz..although the best candidate for that spot would be the Toyota Aygo.
February 24, 2006 @ 9:06 pm
50k for CBU? Can forget about it ler… nothing will be around that price for CBU ler
February 25, 2006 @ 1:31 am
some people said the estimated selling price would be near RM100k…woh…
i think this price is more’ reasonable’ in here…just like toyota fortuner- the actual price is much more higher than expected one !!!
February 25, 2006 @ 5:35 am
Of course it won’t be Rm50K lar, most likely it would be around 70-80K for an Aygo
February 25, 2006 @ 8:20 am
Gowin is right the Yaris will be ~RM100k. It’s a CBU lar!
As for the Belta, I’d be surprised if they release it this year, seeing that they’ve only launched the facelifted Vios (I know it looks the same) few months back. Also to release a “world-car” (read: car that is actually affordable ala Vios/City) UMW needs to have a lot of localized parts to meet the criterias for certain duty breaks.
But seeing that the NAP is said be released by April (I doubt so since its a gahmen promise) most players in the industry still holding back release of
new models. This is cause they’re still unsure of the implications of NAP to their price structure.
February 25, 2006 @ 9:58 am
Just call my fren that a Toyota salesman.
It will be Yaris that cost RM105K but i not sure is the sedan or hatchback.
Based on what he said is a car that smaller than Vios and look like Jazz.
So should be the hatchback. It is a fully imported car.
And later will have Wish that coming in also.
February 25, 2006 @ 7:56 pm
somebody see toyota vits already…woh!!! Quite impressive..nice sport rims. It 1.5 liter, CBU. Most likely selling price is RM 89,000. i think it will lanching soon…
February 26, 2006 @ 11:01 am
Well…keep dreaming about it. They won’t be cheap unless CKD there will be chance that below 60K like the Avanza launched initially. It’s a monopolistic market in Malaysia. When one model sold well like the Avanza, they won’t want to bring in more models that will hamper the sales of the current hot models. Since Perodua assembly plant has reached full capacity to assemble Myvi and Avanza and they are so many back orders, how would they introduce new CKD models…think about it! The only chance is that we may expect the Daihatsu Be-go to replace Kembara by this year end…hahaha..
February 26, 2006 @ 9:35 pm
well toyota yaris is coming as i know,but one more thing i just wanna know,is it toyota aygo also will coming to malaysia,very very love this toyota aygo….. hope to see you soon in malaysia…..
February 27, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
As i heard from my Toyota salesman fren said currently only this small car will in while the upcomin is BIG car such as Wish. But maybe that is for the 1st half financial year.
March 1, 2006 @ 12:12 am
The new car that will be in town is confirmed to be the “Yaris”. There will be two different versions to this…one of them being the “Sporty” version. It’ll be direct competition with Jazz and Swift…so pricing range…should be well…won’t be cheap..50K is definitely a no no.
I have a feeling it’ll be launched earlier than…perhaps mid April…
New Wish will have a slight facelift features…more aerodynamically designed..
March 2, 2006 @ 10:57 am
i think the Toyota Vitz called Toyota Yaris in malaysia, and it will sell it cost Rm80++k… 1.5 engine, but the price near the Vios… hard to choose…
other new model will sale in UMW r Toyota Harrier, Toyota Ractis and Toyota Wish~
March 2, 2006 @ 2:59 pm
come on toyota… bring it to our shores…
March 4, 2006 @ 1:57 am
Check out with Toyota salesman that they take booking now and it is about RM 90K and is a direct competitor with Jazz
March 4, 2006 @ 10:13 am
You see, I’m right…it’s not cheap. You can buy two Yaris with 90K in China…We poor Malaysians are victim because of potonglah!!!!
March 4, 2006 @ 10:37 pm
oh ya, thailand just sell it around 60k only…
but malaysia so expensive… actually we all are victim who live in malaysia…
all the tex… haizz…
October 24, 2006 @ 7:29 pm
While Thais get it for BHT600,000 (lower specs) to BHT730,000 (higher spec) we get it for RM92,000 to RM98,000. For this kind of money we could get 3.0L D4D Fortuner up there. Sighhh!!!!