Toyota has announced that it will unveil a new small SUV for the European market at the Geneva auto show in March, marking the automaker’s first entrant into the small SUV segment. Europe’s small SUV segment is one of the fastest growing segments anywhere, with sales increasing by 63.6% — to 94,153 units — in 2006.
Toyota plans to sell 1.3 million vehicles in Europe in 2009 — up from 1.09 million last year — a goal the small SUV could help the auto giant achieve.
According to Automotive News, the new SUV will be based on the Japan-only Ist — a platform mate to the Toyota Yaris. “Toyota will import from Japan a heavily rebodied variant of the Ist,†Thierry Dombreval, chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Europe, told Automotive News Europe.
The small SUV is said to take design cues from Toyota’s Urban Cruiser concept, which debut at last year’s Geneva show.
Since 2001, Toyota has dominated the medium SUV segment in Europe with its RAV4. Last year RAV4 sales increased by 15.1% and captured 22.1% of the segment.
