The all-new 2023 Toyota Vios (D92A) is bound to enter Malaysia sooner rather than later, in a bid to upstage the current GN-series Honda City. The question remains: how soon?
We'll take a look of previous UMWT locally-assembled (CKD) launches here, notably the previous-gen Vios and the Toyota Corolla Cross to hypothesise.
Previous-gen Vios and Corolla Cross
Pre-facelift fourth-gen Vios
The Vios as is currently sold in Malaysia – NSP 151 – dates back to 2017. Its pre-facelift model debuted in Thailand as the Yaris Ativ in August of that year, and we only got the model in January 2019. Launch to launch, it took a year and four months.
Usually facelifts are produced pretty fast, but for the previous model it took a smidge over one year, between its August 2020 Thai debut and December 2021 Malaysian introduction, which also brought the hot GR Sport variant.
However this is a bit of an outlying case as we had to contend with Covid-19 disrupting production between then.
CBU Corolla Cross; discernible by lack of roof rails
Much the same with the Toyota Corolla Cross. Recall that our initial batch were fully-imported (CBU Thailand) before Bukit Raja started making them, and between the model's July 2020 world debut in the Land of Smiles and its locally-assembled appearance here in January 2022, there was a timeframe of one and a half years.
This eighteen-month gap took relatively longer time because we were smack in the middle of a pandemic. Still, it's well managed in the sense that it didn't take too long in the end.
Late-2023 in Malaysia?
More than likely. Looking at the year-plus gaps between their debuts and Malaysian introduction for previous models, we'd pin the all-new D92A Toyota Vios to arrive here in CKD form in late-2023 or even early-2024, if all else goes smoothly.
Things to contend with are the ongoing semi-conductor shortage, and the fact that this DNGA-based Vios is entirely different from the one it replaces – meaning a lot more to retool and prep in Toyota's plants here.
What to expect from the all-new 2023 Toyota Vios
All-new, as it says, so everything is fresh. Underpinned by the DNGA platform – no stranger to Malaysians now, since the wildly-popular 2022 Perodua Alza(D27A) and Ativa are on it – the model comes with baby Camry fastback looks and a whole load of new features within.
Features to look out for is the cool new interior, as well as the Toyota Safety Sense ADAS suite, which will bring it up to par with the City's V Sensing and RS variants which comes fully-equipped with Honda Sensing already.
With humble beginnings collecting diecast models and spending hours virtually tuning dream cars on the computer, his love of cars has delightfully transformed into a career. Sanjay enjoys how the same passion for cars transcends boundaries and brings people together.
