The Toyota Yaris will not return to the US or Canadian market after the 2020 model year.
Toyota says it has other models to attract first-time, budget-minded buyers.
UPDATE: Toyota Canada has confirmed that the Yaris will not return in 2021.
The Toyota Yaris won’t live past the 2020 model year in the United States, according to information that leaked onto the internet.
According to Tire Meets Road, which dug up the scoop on Reddit, the 2020 Yaris sedan in addition to the “all-new” 2020 Yaris hatchback will be the last year for the subcompact-car nameplate in the U.S., as production will end this month. Units will still be built for Puerto Rico until November 2020.
The current-generation Toyota Yaris sold in the U.S. market is actually a rebadged Mazda2, which is now reserved for other markets. The sedan arrived for the 2016 model year as the Scion iA, and when Toyota’s “youth-oriented” brand folded, the car was rebadged as the Yaris sedan for model-year 2017. The U.S. market sold the previous-gen Yaris hatchback—a real Toyota—up until 2018. In April 2019, Toyota USA announced it would bring back the hatchback model in the country which, like the sedan, is essentially a rebadged Mazda2.
Through the first five months of 2020, only 3,250 units of the Toyota Yaris were sold in the U.S., compared to 94,522 units of the Toyota Corolla. During that period, its rivals sold in far greater numbers, including the Honda Fit (10,964 units), the Hyundai Accent (7,055 units) and the Kia Rio (10,041 units).
In the statement Toyota sent to dealers, which was posted on Reddit, the automaker said that “over the years, Yaris has attracted many first-time, multicultural buyers who valued practicality, value and affordability. Toyota feels strongly that we have vehicles in our portfolio that will continue to attract this buyer.” The 2020 Yaris sedan starts at $15,650 before freight and delivery charges in the United States, while the Yaris hatchback starts at $17,750.
On July 7, Toyota Canada confirmed that the Toyota Yaris would not return either.
In Canada, the Mazda2-based Toyota Yaris sedan arrived for the 2016 model year, was retired after 2019, and was never offered as a Scion unlike in the United States. The previous-gen, built-in-France, Toyota-designed Yaris hatchback was sold in Canada through the 2019 model year, and the new Mazda-derived Yaris was recently introduced. It starts at $16,790 before freight and delivery charges. During the first five months of 2019, 713 units of the Yaris were sold in Canada, compared to 11,334 copies of the Corolla.
