At Auto China 2002, one of the main exhibits was a Toyota T-1. Lets take a closer look at it!
At the car show held in Beijing between June 6 and 13, Tianjin Toyota Motor’s main car to be shown off was this unassuming small sedan. It ended up being one of the most popular exhibits at the car show, having an appeal to both younger and older people with its no-nonsense design, great fit and finish quality and suggested retail price of around 130 000-160 000 yuan. That is not too far off its older competitors like Citroën Elysee or VW Jetta.
The car itself was based on the Xiali 2000 (Toyota Echo) chassis. Dimensions: 4285 x 1690 x 1440 mm, wheelbase 2500 mm. The car’s heart was a 1.5 liter inline 4, with 16 valves and meeting the Euro 3 emmissions standard. It put its power onto the front wheels via automatic gearbox. The drag coeficient was just 0.29 , same as the Xiali 2000.
, same as the Xiali 2000.
Interesting feature of the car at the time was a DVD entertainment system with a sat-nav. Toyota helped develop a satnav coverage in China at the time, which was still quite sporadic. Beijing and Tianjin had some coverage, rest of the country haven’t got anything. Other features included 2 front airbags and ABS.
From the interior it is quite clear that it is just a bit more conservative restyling of then current Toyota Vitz/Yaris/Echo (Xiali 2000). One advantage over the Xiali 2000 was the longer wheelbase, which is an important aspect that chinese car buyers look at.
According to the news story published on toyota’s page at the time, it was supposed to enter production in October the same year.
And it did! In October of 2002 and with surprisingly few changes, the car was now sold as Vios. it even got produced later in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. On top of having a 1.5 liter engine with automatic gearbox, you could also get it with smaller 1.3 liter engine, or manual transmission. Sadly I don’t think though the GPS did make the final cut, being replaced with a regular car radio.
The car did play a significant role for Toyota in China, however it did not outlast the Xiali 2000, being replaced by a second generation Vios in 2007. Xiali 2000 went trough a couple of names and facelifts, ending its production run in 2011 as FAW Vela.
Sources:
japan.people.com.cn
auto.sohu.com
auto.sina.com.cn
toyota.com.cn
autohome.com.cn
These are as common as dirt in vietnam for the longest time ever, being popular with government agencies and cab companies. I haven’t seen one in a long while though