Report: The Toyota Yaris Cross is coming to the Philippines

The Toyota Yaris Cross is coming, and there are a few reports flying around that dealers are feeling out how many units in the initial batch they should order. Toyota Motor Philippines seem to be on a roll with its releases, hot on the heels of multiple new model updates in 2020. 

2021, will be no different as momentum appears to be on the Japanese automaker’s side in the Philippines. With that, another vehicle, which is the smaller brother to the Toyota Corolla Cross is in the works. 

We’ve reported about the Yaris Cross in the past. It’s a subcompact crossover that was recently launched in Singapore in the first half of January. It is based on the Vios and the Yaris Now it seems that the Philippines might be the next country that the crossover will make a debut. To those of you that are keen on the industry, Toyota hasn’t had a subcompact crossover fighter. A segment that is dominated by the likes of Honda, Geely, Chery, and MG doesn’t have a Toyota rival to square off against, but that seems to be changing sometime soon. 

A report from Auto Industriya from an anonymous source states that there are several dealers in the country that have already started ordering units of the Yaris Cross. The initial units will not, however, be offered to consumers. Also according to the report, the company is still gauging how many units will be ordered for the first batch that officially goes on sale. The Yaris Cross is produced in the Toyota plant in Thailand, the same as the Corolla Cross and the Corolla Altis, which means that another batch of units may find themselves on the same boat as the other models in the Toyota lineup. 

As for a launch date, we can expect the Yaris Cross to come sometime in the first quarter of 2021. That means Toyota must be gearing up for a launch on or before March 2021. As for estimations in terms of price, we can expect it to be priced more affordably than the Toyota Corolla Cross compact crossover. A reasonable estimate would pin it at about P1,200,000 to P1,300,000, however, wouldn’t it be such a segment shaker to get a Toyota Yaris Cross for just a little over P1,000,000, or perhaps slightly more expensive than Toyota’s top of the line Vios 1.5 G? Wishful thinking, but something that we’re eager to see. 

As for engine options, the Yaris Cross is known to come with either a 1.5-liter naturally aspirated 3-cylinder engine with 118 hp and 145 Nm of torque, while the other engine is the same 1.5-liter with a hybrid system making about the same power figures at 114 hp. The transmission is a CVT, and it could be possible that we will see this hybrid powertrain in the lineup since Toyota has committed to the electrification and hybridization of its line up which started with the Toyota Corolla Altis. 

Source: Auto Industriya