Another small car bites the dust in the United States: the Toyota Yaris. Both the Yaris hatchback and Yaris iA sedan are rebadges of the Mazda2 that isn’t sold here, and now we won’t even be able to buy Toyota’s versions.
“The Yaris sedan and Yaris Hatchback will not be available for model year 2021. Model year 2020 will be the last year for Yaris in the U.S.,” a Toyota spokesperson told CarBuzz.
The outlet initially discovered the discontinuation through a leaked memo from Toyota to its dealerships in the southeastern U.S. That memo confirms that the production of new Yarises for the U.S. market will cease in June 2020.
This is yet more bad news for small car fans, who’ve seen their choices whittle down to hardly anything in recent years. The Yaris was one of the last truly desirable subcompacts on sale. Most of us who’ve reviewed the Mazda-yota have been impressed by its nimble, tossable handling, and that combined with decent fuel economy always made it the option to get at the rental counter (provided that all of your stuff and people fit inside). Our own Editor-in-Chief Kyle Chreromcha called the Yaris iA “probably the best cheap new car you can buy,” and he’s not wrong!
Sadly, though, the Yaris hasn’t been a huge seller here. Only 21,916 new Yarises sold last year, compared to 304,850 new Corollas, CarBuzz notes.
If you’re worried that this means doom and gloom for your favorite Toyota Yaris-racing World Rally Championship team, fret not. Japan and Europe get a completely different, all-Toyota Yaris that rides on a different platform. These other markets got a new Yaris after the previous generation was discontinued, whereas we got the rebadged Mazda2.
Toyota USA has (perhaps cruelly) teased us about this, asking fans on Twitter if we’d like to see the high-performance GR version of Europe’s Yaris come to America. So, maybe this discontinuation of our Mazda2-based Yaris could open up the floor space to give us the Yaris everyone else gets, but given the U.S.’s history with small cars, we wouldn’t recommend holding your breath.
Prove us small car fans wrong, Toyota! That GR Yaris hot hatch sounds like a blast.
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