2001 Toyota Vitz

In Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the Vitz is sold as the Yaris Liftback (or simply Yaris). Up to 2005, the Vitz was known as the Echo Hatchback in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, with the Toyota Platz sedan being known as the Echo; the first generation Vitz was never sold in the US. Since 2006, the Vitz and Belta are marketed in US/ Canada as the Yaris Hatchback and Yaris, respectively.

The Toyota Belta sedan, which replaced the Toyota Platz, shares underpinnings with the Vitz. However, while the Vitz was designed at Toyota's European design studios, the Belta was designed at Toyota's Japanese design studios – two completely different design projects for similar cars marketed toward different demographics. While the outgoing Vitz and Platz models look and feel virtually alike (the only things the cars don't share is the front clip, lights, rear doors, and bodies from behind the B-pillar), the new Vitz and Belta are much more subtly related. Sharing a similar but different dashboard, they do not employ the same components. The cars share only a frame and the drivetrain options. The sheet metal is completely different.