Vios 1.5 (XP150 facelift)

STORY

The Vios is Toyota's Thai-built compact sedan for growing markets, and Toyota traces the line to 1997, when the same car went on sale in Thailand as the Soluna; exports to the rest of ASEAN began in 1999 and the badge became Soluna Vios and then simply Vios. The name derives from the Latin vio, to travel. Tianjin Toyota, a 50:50 venture with Tianjin FAW Xiali, completed its first Vios on 8 October 2002 with capacity for 30,000 cars a year, selling it in China as the Weichi. Toyota says the Vios led the Thai compact-car market for ten consecutive years from 2003, and that cumulative exports to seven countries had reached about 187,000 cars by 2013. The XP150 was world-premiered at the Bangkok Motor Show on 25 March 2013, 4,410 mm long with a 1.5-litre 1NZ engine, built at the Gateway plant in Chachoengsao and aimed at more than 80 export markets.