I’ve heard it said that the Toyota Yaris is the cockroach of the car world.
Nobody really ever wants one – it isn’t anybody’s go-to dream car – but once you have one, it’s so hard to get rid of it or kill it that it just never goes away.
I don’t remember exactly where I heard that, but if you think about it, it’s pretty true.
The Yaris is one of the smallest, most inexpensive cars anyone can buy right now. It is super simple, a little brutish to drive, and it just isn’t a refined vehicle. Of course, it isn’t really supposed to be.
But, there’s another side to it as well. It may be simple, inexpensive, and unrefined, but it also has that Toyota indestructability about it. For someone who values that over everything else, it’s the perfect car.
All of that will be changing though. At least we think and hope it will be…
Before we see exactly what potential changes are coming, a little context is necessary.
The Toyota Yaris has been around for a while, but was introduced in the mid-2000s to the U.S. Market. It was Toyota’s sub-compact car, competing with the Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent, and Nissan Versa, just to name a few.
It was offered in both sedan and hatchback versions.
A refresh in 2012 brought a fresh look to the Yaris but also brought about the death of the sedan version of the car.
Come 2017, and the sedan was back… kind of.
Toyota’s offshoot brand, Scion, designed to cater to a younger, more energetic, and exciting populace, was discontinued by Toyota. But they had a subcompact sedan in their lineup called the iA.
It was a rebadged Mazda 2, and Toyota seized the opportunity to bring that car over to the actual Toyota lineup, rename it the Yaris iA, and use it as the sedan version of the Yaris.
The iA, really being a Mazda 2, was markedly different than the actual Toyota Yaris. Critics, journalists, and other media members almost universally agreed that the Yaris iA was a hoot to drive and an experience to be had.
Despite the car’s diminutive size, it was affordable, fun, and fuel efficient, all at the same time.
All that being said, reports have been made that the Yaris hatchback will follow suit for its next redesign and adopt what is essentially a Mazda 2 hatchback as the next Yaris hatchback.
If this is true, the Yaris will be confronted with an identity crisis, albeit one that hopefully won’t be detrimental to its existence.
Toyota is known for its reliability record. If the Yaris is a rebadged Mazda, that reputation may be affected slightly simply by virtue of a Mazda not being a Toyota.
Most likely, the targeted would-be buyers of the future Yaris won’t care or realize that this is actually the case, but it’s still worth mentioning.
It may also open up a few other future car buyers to a segment they’ve never entered before.
For those who do understand what the new Yaris will be, it could be an invite to get a less expensive, fun car rather than spend money they don’t have to get a more upscale one.
By no means is the Mazda 2 anything close to fast, but it does carry some of that MX-5 DNA that makes the spirited little Mazda convertible so fun.
Still, all of this is speculation.
A rebadged Mazda 2 hatchback hasn’t been 100% confirmed as the next generation Yaris, nor would that guarantee any type of market expansion based on the fact that the car would be a Mazda.
So, just like so many other things in life, we must wait to see exactly what the next generation Toyota Yaris will be.
I, for one, would love to see Toyota take the Mazda 2 hatchback and rebadge it to create the new Yaris hatchback, just like they did with the sedan.
I also know that I would love it because I love how a car makes me feel when I drive it. I also know that the Mazda 2 is still a great car despite the fact that it isn’t anywhere close to what anybody would call fast.
I’m also keenly aware that I’m among the minority who think this way.
Enthusiasts who understand what the MX-5 Miata is and does will understand that the Mazda 2 sedan/Yaris iA is built around the same philosophy – that a car doesn’t have to be boring to drive even if it doesn’t have 500,000 horsepower.
Even with that understanding, most enthusiasts aren’t going to up and sell their Mustangs, Nissan 370Zs, and Ford Raptors to get their hands on one of these new Yaris models. And to be fair, I’m not going to do that either.
The possibility of the next generation Yaris being an undercover Mazda 2 is still an exciting bit of news that makes me happy for the Yaris.
It makes me happy for the future owners of the Yaris.
And who knows, I’ve already considered getting the Yaris iA in the past just because it is so affordable. I’d love to have one as a third option, and if I ever get to the point where that’s possible, I will certainly consider it pretty strongly.
Whatever happens, it’s good to know that $17,000 can still buy you at least one car, and perhaps two, that are engineered to deliver a driving experience and not just a piece of lifeless metal that can move from point A to point B.
