Moving in the Right Direction

One of the things that fascinated me during my trip to Paris last spring was the variety of small cars on the streets--made by manufacturers that also had a foothold in the US, not just Peugeot--that I'd never seen back in the States. Well, one of those care, the Toyota Yaris, is now coming to America, debuting in showrooms this spring. It comes in both hatchback and sedan styles, which both have a distinctively rounded style that's not overly soapish in shape. You can check out images of the cars over at Toyota's site as well as read a press release. But that press release interestingly doesn't cover fuel efficiency. But Treehugger covered the Yaris initial announcement a couple weeks back, and that release has the goods:

Yaris fuel efficiency will be among the highest in the subcompact segment. A preliminary EPA fuel economy mpg rating for the Liftback is estimated at 34 city/40 highway for the five-speed manual and 34 city/39 highway for models equipped with the four-speed automatic. Fuel efficiency ratings for the Yaris Sedan are equally impressive with preliminary EPA mpg estimates of 34 city/40 highway for the five-speed manual and 34 city/39 highway for the automatic.

In addition to its exceptional fuel efficiency, Yaris will be EPA-certified as an Ultra-Low Emission vehicle (ULEV II).