#Vitz

Toyota issued Thursday a global recall of 57,000 vehicles affected by the Takata airbag crisis.

We had intimated it a few days ago, now it’s official: Toyota’s Prius is no longer primus (or make that ichi ban) in Japan. The hybrid that had been Japan’s best selling car for 20 months in a row had to relinquish the throne to Honda’s Fit.

One of Toyota’s best selling cars, with cumulative sales exceeding 3.5 million units since its first-generation launch in 1999, and with sales in more than 70 countries around the world, is the Vitz.

The what?

Well, Vitz is what the car is called in Japan. You will probably know it better as the Yaris. The first generation Vitz was sold as Echo in some markets. Now it’s Vitz in Japan and Yaris in most of the rest of the world.

Today, Toyota showed the 3rd generation Vitz (Japanese spec) to the Japanese press in Yokohama.

As I had already been in the neighborhood, I popped in and checked it out. Dozo.