Toyota Aygo X Prologue: the future city car from Toyota?

It has been a while since Toyota presented the first Toyota Aygo in 2005. Let us recall that this city car was born as the result of a joint project between PSA and Toyota, which also gave rise to the Citroën C1 and Peugeot 108.

Since then, the Toyota Aygo has undergone several updates. And right now, in 2021, the year this collaboration agreement for building city cars expires, Toyota presents its Aygo X Prologue.

Toyota’s city car proposal for European customers

For the moment it is nothing more than a styling exercise, based on the iconic Aygo, and carried out by Toyota’s European Design and Development Centre, based in Nice (France). But with the Aygo X Prologue, Toyota also signals its intention to reinvent its proposal for the city car segment.

The idea is to give greater prominence to image in order to achieve a much bolder and more daring style. And judging by the images, they have succeeded. In fact, it is not easy to find many similarities between the current Aygo and this prototype, which in its transformation has almost become a mini crossover.

According to Toyota’s design managers, the Aygo X Prologue shows that a small car can also have a lot of personality. It was enough to add “an extra pinch of spice to the Aygo’s DNA, given that new Toyota customers demand style, distinction and the chance to express themselves”. And precisely a somewhat bland design lacking personality is a criticism that many users levelled at the design of some Toyota models. A trend that took a radical turn with the successful Toyota C-HR.

Two-tone bodywork and large wheels

The huge wheels for a car of its size already give the Aygo X Prologue a very special look. But there are other distinctive elements that add distinction, such as the aggressive wing-shaped design of the front headlights, joined at the bottom by a light strip. Also the retractable door handles that sit flush with the bodywork, or the action cameras mounted on the wing mirrors, for recording the surroundings.

The roof bars help give it that crossover look, while the two-tone finish takes on a special prominence here by focusing not only on the roof but also on the rear, creating a very eye-catching image.

There is still no clue as to whether the Aygo X Prologue will materialise as a production car. Nor whether, if it does, it would have electric propulsion, hybrid or conventional engines. The latter is rather unlikely, especially for Toyota. For now, what the images reveal is that it has a conventional cooling grille for the engine… but we cannot see anywhere a possible fuel tank cap, nor a charging socket cover. Bets are welcome.

Image gallery Toyota Aygo X Prologue