New Toyota Yaris details emerge

New images and info related to the face-lifted 2014 Toyota Yaris hatch have been released, the distinctly European light car adhering to Toyota's "keen look" design philosophy evident on Corolla and RAV4.

More than 1000 new parts were completely redesigned for the Yaris's
mid-life upgrade, which was penned by Toyota's Belgian and French design
studios.

Only the five-door Toyota Yaris hatch will be sold in Australia when it arrives here in September, after the three-door Yaris hatch was axed. The fate of the Yaris sedan is still up in the air.

When the new-look version of Toyota's smallest and most affordable model arrives in Australia it will certainly have its hands full, contending with an all-new Mazda2, which also launches that month. Last year was the first time the Mazda2 outsold the Yaris, relegating the Toyota to second spot in the light car sales segment.

Other models vying for a piece of the light car pie include a new Hyundai i20 tipped to launch here in early 2015 and a face-lifted Volkswagen Polo.

Toyota hopes the Yaris's sportier, more contemporary face will win over buyers, the redesigned front end featuring re-sculpted headlights, LED running lights and a far larger and more assertive lower air dam, which draws inspiration from the company's audaciously-styled Aygo micro car.

At the rear of the Yaris the bumper has been redesigned to fit soft LED brake lights, all of which conspire to convey a defined European image.

The Yaris has always been "extremely strong" in terms of practicality, packaging and daily running costs insists Alessandro Massimino, the car's Product Manager, but he concedes the car required more eye candy.

"What we wanted to achieve was to connect the model not only with our customers' brains, but also with their hearts," he said.

Prospective Yaris buyers will be greeted with a more modern interior design too, which has been renovated to again deliver a stronger visual impact. The instrument cluster, dashpad and controls have been remodelled in a sleeker, more integrated fashion, and a bigger seven-inch infotainment display is also part of the package for European models.

Changes to the chassis have also been made. The new Yaris promises a sportier, more responsive drive via the adoption of new dampers with integrated rebound springs, designed to reduce body roll, says Toyota. Meanwhile softer front coil springs are said to improve ride quality.

Rear suspension likewise comprises softer coil springs mated to a stiffer torsion beam to achieve similar aims as the front. Toyota has seen fit to add extra sound-deadening materials to make the cabin quieter, helped by tweaks to aerodynamics and the exhaust system.

European Toyota Yaris models can be had with four engines, two petrol, a diesel and a hybrid, although Australian delivered models are expected to soldier on with mildly-tweaked versions of the current 1.3- and 1.5-litre four-cylinder engines.

The mid-life upgrade for the Yaris was researched, developed and designed by Toyota's Belgian and French design studios, something of a rarity for Toyota.

"What makes this project different from other projects that we have done is the scale of the development content," said Serkan Karaman, Senior Project Manager at the Brussel's R&D Centre in Belgium.

"Compared to a typical face-lift [this] was much larger and we were able to take the lead in Europe for a global vehicle of which the content was adopted for other regions such as Japan and USA. In the past, the project management was mostly done in Japan.

"We had the freedom to decide what to do, when to do it and how to go about it. As a result, the new Yaris really incorporates European know how and European taste," said Karaman.