- Toyota has unveiled the second generation of its segment A city car, the Aygo, which will be produced as of the summer 2014 in the Toyota-PSA plant of Kolin in the Czech Republic, alongside the new Peugeot 108 and Citroën C1.

- Unlike the small Peugeot, Toyota will not change the name of its vehicle. The new Aygo replaces a model produced at more than 740 000 units between 2005 (launch date) and 2013, slightly less than the Peugeot 107 (790 000 units) and the Citroën C1 (760 000 units), over the same marketing period .

- Like the Peugeot 108 and Citroën C1, the Toyota Aygo will be produced in both a three-door and a five-door version, unlike its direct competitor the new Renault Twingo (only available in five-doors).

- The Aygo (unlike the 108 and C1) will only be available in a petrol version (3 cylinder 1.0 Genuine Toyota engine and 3-cylinder 1.2 Genuine PSA Peugeot-Citroën engine), following the general trend which aims to reduce the share of diesel engines in the segment of small cars (following the new European regulations on gas emissions).

- Inovev expects the production volume to reach nearly 100 000 units per year for the Toyota Aygo (three and five-door versions), a production volume similar to that of the 108 and C1. Let us recall that the Kolin plant has a current capacity of 340 000 vehicles per year.

  

- Honda will stop marketing its Insight hybrid and CRZ hybrid models in Europe due to insufficient sales. The manufacturer sold only 1 242 Insight models in the European market in 2013, down 62% compared to 2012, and only 695 CRZ, down 66%. Since 1999, when the first hybrid models from Honda were launched in Europe, the carmaker sold just over 102 000 vehicles of this type in Europe.

- Its direct competitor, Toyota, sold over 480 000 hybrid vehicles in Europe over the same period (including 377 000 under the Toyota brand and 106 000 under the Lexus brand).

- The failure of Honda hybrid models versus Toyota may be explained by several reasons:

- Toyota launched its first hybrid model in 1997 thanks to a car positioned on a segment with a large volume of potential sales : C segment. Honda launched its hybrid two years later on a niche segment, the segment of small coupes.

- The Prius was then renewed in 2004 with upgraded amenities (segment D) while the Honda Insight was renewed in 2009 by a C-segment sedan, a completely new model.

- The Prius "Fashion" launched thanks to the second generation of the car, was particularly strong in the U.S., which boosted the image of the vehicle.

- The diversification of the Prius range (Prius, Prius +, Prius C) while Honda was limited to two vehicles (Insight and CRZ).

- In fact, Toyota invested heavily in hybrid technology and acquired a near monopoly position in this segment, which was not the case of Honda, that is currently designing a new line of hybrid cars.