While one after the other car manufacturer is leaving the A segment, Toyota is biting on it. This is the Toyota Aygo X Prologue, a bold preview of the all-new Toyota Aygo.
Toyota plans to add a new chapter to the European success story called Aygo. The brand presents this Aygo X Prologue, a compact study model with which Toyota shows how it gives a successor to the current second generation Aygo, presented in 2014.
Toyota Aygo X Prologue
The Aygo X Prologue is another design study, so this concept car designed by Toyota’s European design department has details that will not make it to the production stage. However, that doesn’t make the car any less interesting. If you look through your eyelashes, you will simply see the new Toyota Aygo. The first thing you’ll notice is that Toyota injected the Aygo X Prologue with crossover DNA. The Sparkling Chilli Red sprayed Aygo harbinger is higher on its legs than you are used to from the first and second generations Aygo and has sturdy wheel arches that are filled with large wheels. The ‘X’ in the name of the concept car hints somewhat to the current Aygo. The current Toyota Aygo is available in various versions with an X in the name, think of the X-Joy, X-JLB and X-clusiv and even the infotainment system is called X-Touch. In addition, the second generation has Aygo a characteristic ‘X-face‘that was emphasized once again during the 2018 facelift.
X or Cross
However, that X reference seems twofold. The X-shapes of the current Aygo make way for hexagonal shapes on the Aygo X Prologue, for example in the fog lights and in the structure of the grille. So don’t be surprised if the ‘X’ in the case of the Aygo X Prologue stands for ‘Cross’ and that the new Aygo actually gets mild traces of a crossover, complete with silver skid plates and accentuated wheel arches. The relatively high muzzle of the Aygo X Prologue is somewhat reminiscent of the also high front of the Yaris Cross and that seems to be done with the short and sloping front of the first and second Aygo.
Toyota Aygo X Prologue
It is a small but easily explainable revolution in Aygo country. After all, crossovers are immensely popular these days. Yet the Aygo X Prologue is clearly recognizable as Aygo from all sides. Especially at the rear. The LED lighting at the rear, like the lighting of the current Toyota Aygo, is oriented vertically, but is, like the boomerang-shaped LED units at the front, interconnected. So Aygo evolution. The glass tailgate, an Aygo feature since the first generation presented in 2005, also returns on this concept car. Striking detail: this time Toyota has made a recess in the glass lid that serves as a handle, quite a difference from the plastic handle on the current model.
Toyota Aygo
More eye-catching details: the Aygo X Prologue has integrated roof rails that visually continue in line with the rear lights. Toyota gives its brand-new study model further recessed handles, although we do not expect them to return to the soon-to-be new Toyota Aygo due to the higher production costs that they entail. The bi-tone color scheme that is available on the current Aygo is present in a more intense form on the Toyota Aygo X Prologue. For example, the rear part of the car, together with the roof, the wheel arches and the door sills in between, is finished in a contrasting black color. At the bottom of the rear bumper is an attachment point for a bicycle carrier and Toyota has incorporated cameras in the side mirrors with which you can record your Aygo adventures on screen.
Viability
It is striking that Toyota is one of the few brands that does not withdraw from the A-segment, but rather sticks to it. In this market segment, which is mainly present in Europe, it is difficult to keep afloat due to the relatively low profit margins. In addition, unlike the first and second generations, Toyota is not developing the new Aygo together with Peugeot and Citroën. No more C1 and 108 brother for the Aygo. The viability of the new Aygo has been secured thanks to the car’s technical base. The new Toyota Aygo will be on a shortened version of the GA-B platform that Toyota already uses under the Yaris and the Yaris Cross to be launched later this year. A B-segment basis for the new Aygo, something that Toyota says is possible by the economies of scale that arise from using the platform for three models. Whether that also means that the new Aygo, just like its larger technical brothers, will be available with hybrid powertrains, seems unlikely. There is a chance that the Toyota Aygo will become too expensive as a result.
Toyota Aygo, facelift second generation (2018 -)
Toyota Aygo sales figures
The Toyota Aygo is a true success in the Netherlands. Despite the fact that Toyota’s smallest has only been on the market since 2005, it has been the most popular model of the brand in the Netherlands from 1983, measured after the Corolla and the Yaris. Almost 135,000 have been sold in less than 16 years. Last year, 6,294 new Aygo’s were registered, good for a 15th place directly behind the Golf and a place above the Renault Captur in annual sales. In 2011, the Aygo, at the time still the first generation, had its absolute top year. Then 15,250 copies went over the counter in the Netherlands. Toyota sold 87,924 Aygo’s throughout Europe last year. This means that the car is now lagging behind the Yaris (193,050 units), Corolla (121,768), C-HR (115,782 units) and RAV4 (147,137 units). Time for a sales boost.
Later this year we expect to see more of the actual new Toyota Aygo.