Don’t Bother Waiting For This New Toyota Vios – It’s Not Coming To Malaysia

If you have been following our earlier posts, you would’ve seen pictures of the new 2017 Toyota Vios during our coverage of the 2017 Bangkok International Motor Show.

Considering that Thailand is the region’s source for components and assembly kits for the B-segment Vios, it was reasonable to expect changes to the Thai-market Vios to be mirrored in Thailand’s neighbouring countries – except that this time, that won’t happen.

In a departure from Toyota’s common practice of offering similar/same products across the ASEAN region, sources at Toyota Motor’s regional office in Thailand have told us that the new design adopted by the Thai-market Vios is exclusive only for China and Thailand.

All other markets in the ASEAN region, including Indonesia and Malaysia, will retain the existing model’s design.

Apart from a different front-end design and interior trim colours, the Thai-market Vios is similar to the model sold in Malaysia, sharing the same 1.5-litre Dual VVT-i engine paired to a CVT-type automatic transmission with seven virtual ratios.

So if you are considering buying a Vios but aren’t sure if you might lose out when a new facelift is introduced a few months later, don’t bother waiting any further.

The current generation Vios will continue to soldier on for at least another year, after which an all-new model based on a variation of Toyota’s TNGA platform will be introduced sometime around mid- or late-2018.  

Alternatively, you might also want to look at the new Honda City, which was refreshed earlier this year. Now with sharper styling and funky LED headlights (V-grade model only), the City is still the segment’s benchmark for interior space, family-friendly practicality and safety.