Toyota Yaris racks up 10 million sales

Toyota is celebrating the production of its 10-millionth Toyota Yaris after just four generations and 25 years of service.

Joining the Corolla, Camry, RAV4, HiLux and LandCruiser as the sixth Toyota model to surpass eight-figure sales, the 10-millionth car was a Yaris GR Sport that rolled off the line at the car-maker’s French manufacturing hub in Valenciennes, northern France.

The light hatchback is currently built at no fewer than 10 different factories around the globe, with the other facilities in Japan, Brazil, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand and the Czech Republic.

First unveiled in 1998 at the Paris motor show, the Toyota supermini went on to become a European Car of the Year winner in 2000.

Europe has been its strongest market from launch, with 5,155,506 cars finding homes there (out of the 10 million).

Today the Yaris still accounts for one third of Toyota’s European sales.

Elsewhere, the hatch has been sold under many different nameplates including Vitz, Platz, Belta, Vios, Scion iA and Echo in Australia. It has also been rebadged as a Daihatsu Charade and Mazda2.

Highlights over the quarter of century include introducing the world's first production all-aluminium diesel engine (Gen I), being awarded five stars for safety by Euro NCAP (Gen II) – a milestone for a car of its size – and introducing electrification to the supermini segment with the Yaris Hybrid in 2012 (Gen III).

Most enthusiasts, meanwhile, welcomed the arrival of the rally-derived Toyota GR Yaris (Gen IV) that was unleashed in 2020 and has proven to be a sell-out success around the globe.

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