Future Models - Toyota 2006 Echo

Echo to become Yaris

No joke: Japanese-market Echo goes by the name of Vitz, which happens to mean "joke" in Hungarian.

Toyota's all-new Echo will be named Yaris when it arrives Down Under in October

22 September 2005

TOYOTA Australia will fall into line with its European counterparts and rename its Echo hatch the Yaris when the new model arrives in October.

While the all-new Echo was launched in Japan (where it's known as Vitz II) earlier this year, the European-market Yaris was revealed at the Frankfurt motor show last week.

The car is also known as Platz and Verso in other parts of the world.

Yaris is a combination of "Charis" (from Greek mythology) and Paris.