Officially introduced in Europe in 1999, the Toyota Yaris used multiple names depending on the market area, including Toyota Vitz and Toyota Echo.
But more important is that the Yaris was named the European Car of the Year in 2000, being followed by Fiat Multipla and Opel Zafira. The Yaris sold pretty well on the North American market where they were promoted as Toyota Echo Hatchback and came with almost the same technical specifications as the European flavor of the car. However, Toyota installed larger bumpers in order to comply with the safety regulations of the Canadian authorities.