Almost every conceptual decision involved by a car’s creation can be metaphorized with the image of illuminating a room using dimmers. How much to share with existing vehicles, which style trends to give priority, what categories it’ll enter… There must be as many subjective options to choose as the exact ones, such as which engines to use or where to offer the car. Toyota’s response to Etios’ criticism comes as a whole new car, with lots of altered proportions from the low-cost sibling’s, which you can meet at this article.
The Vios nameplate debuted in Toyota’s showroom in 2003, also called Soluna Vios. They were different names for a compact sedan projected in Thailand for the Eastern emergent countries based on Toyota Platz, which was, in turn, the contemporary generation of Yaris’ sedan (these cars were also called Echo or Vitz, depending on the market). Vios came with much more classic styling than the original vehicle, resembling the ninth-generation Corolla. These countries tend to receive compact sedans very well due to their potential with bigger families, since they have big space both at cabin and trunk and low prices – some even received an even cheaper version exclusively focused on taxi use, called Limo. That’s why Toyota decided to continue the good sales with Vios’ second generation, in 2007. Once again there was Thai production from the beginning (followed by other countries shortly after) and lots of badge engineering: this time there was only one sedan, which was badged also as Belta or Yaris, besides the taxi version Limo. This one was basically an evolution of the original concept, receiving big upgrades in internal space, comfort and sophistication to keep being a competitive car. However, the 2000s ended with big changes concerning what the clients started to look for in each category, which made Toyota perform a very interesting change of strategy.
Now based on the Dear Qin concept, Etios’ platform was used this time to deliver a true “premium sedan”, to use the Brazilian expression for this subcategory. This one was allowed from the beginning to cost more, despite of still staying far from Corolla, which enabled Toyota to take that investment dimmer much closer to subjective characteristics such as Vios’ very attractive design, filled with modern items taken from the brand’s latest design language – there’s a nice taste between chrome and black parts, managing to keep the car away from exaggerations. Like on every premium, its measures are closer to Etios’ but its luxury is much closer to Corolla’s, which is seen at the sporty interior with several chrome and silver items and two kinds of lights: red for the dashboard and blue for the console. Vios also resembles its future rivals (such as Honda City and VW Santana) at the good coating quality and great internal space, even with five passengers. It’s easy to see that Vios never tries to revolutionize, but brings a competent and stylish interpretation of what’s seen on its category, which focuses at the families with bigger budget than who buys the Etios line. Expected to be sold at 80 countries, Vios arrives at Thailand using a four-cylinder 110-hp 1.5L with five-speed transmission or four-speed automatic.
