PETALING JAYA: The all-new Toyota Supra that made its world premiere at the Detroit auto show last month is coming to Malaysia this year.
The news was announced at Toyota’s media appreciation dinner in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, which was also Chap Goh Mei — the last day of Chinese New Year. The announcement by UMW Toyota Motor was greeted with cries of approval from the motoring media fraternity.
The Supra is expected to arrive in the second half of 2019.
To recap, the Supra is available with a 3.0-litre inline-6 turbo and a 2.0-litre inline-4 turbo engine. The Supra is a joint project with BMW for its new Z4, with both using the same chassis and other mechanicals.
Both two-seaters use the same eight-speed ZF transmission, BMW’s 3.0-litre engine and its electronic M differential and some cabin controls.
Although sharing some major parts, both sports cars are supposedly tuned to have different driving dynamics.
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Making a comeback to Malaysia this year is the new Yaris hatchback. The last time it was here was 12 years ago but its fully imported status (it was assembled in Thailand then) meant its pricing wasn’t competitive with other hatches at that time.
Back then, the second-generation Yaris came in two versions priced between RM90,300 and RM98,100. UMW Toyota Motor quietly stopped selling the Yaris after a few years of poor sales in part due to high pricing, and competition even from its own Vios line-up.
But this time, the Yaris, in its third generation form, is set to be a locally assembled model and the distributor is sure to avoid the mistakes of the past by pricing it appropriately at a time when the competition is even keener with the likes of juggernaut Perodua Myvi dominating the hatcback market that also includes the Proton Iriz and Kia Picanto.
The upcoming Yaris will be assembled at Toyota’s new Bukit Raja plant in Klang, where the facelifted Vios is the first model to be built there. The Vios Malaysians are getting is basically the sedan version of the Yaris, and caters to emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific.
Depending on market, the Yaris comes with a 1.2-litre or 1.5-litre engine and either a CVT or 5-speed manual gearbox. The third-generation model debuted as a hatch from 2011 and expanded with a sedan version in 2013.
Note that the Yaris for North America, Europe and Australasia are based on the Japanese-market Vitz (XP130), introduced in 2011. In contrast, the ones for Asia and other international markets are derived from the Asian-market Yaris (XP150), which appeared in 2013.
Keyword: Guys & gals, Toyota Supra coming to Malaysia in 2019. Yaris, too