Sometimes it's the little ones that write a big chapter in automotive history. Like the Toyota Publica, which made its debut 60 years ago as the first modern Japanese small car, or the compact Toyota Yaris with its pioneering, efficient hybrid drive. An occasion for the Toyota Collection to celebrate the agile Yaris and its legendary predecessors Starlet and Publica.
Toyota Publica at the heart of the exhibition
On Saturday, November 2, the vehicle collection at the Toyota Germany site (50858 Cologne, Toyota Allee 2) will be dedicated to the urban style icons from 10 am to 2 pm. As always, admission to the Toyota Collection is free. Its name already gives it away: with the Publica - an acronym from the English public car - Toyota presented the first small car as a Japanese people's car in 1960.
Not a tiny kei car, then, but chic, family-friendly saloons and estate cars sold in their millions, which also delighted European small car buyers from the end of the 1960s. In Germany, the Publica was successfully launched in 1974 under the name Toyota 1000. From 1978, the Toyota Starlet caused a sensation as the reliability champion in quality rankings and as a crowd favorite in rally and circuit races. As the first Toyota small car designed and built in Europe, the Yaris has been demonstrating urban lifestyle in its most beautiful form since 1998, and since 2011 the Yaris has been offered as the world's first small car with hybrid drive.
Experience the history of development up close
This exciting development history of the small Toyota stars can be experienced up close at the big theme day in the Toyota Collection, which will certainly once again be a spontaneous meeting point for various Toyota communities, who will show their rare and worthwhile classics in front of the gates of the exhibition hall. Among the small car highlights in the Toyota Collection at the Public Opening are several Cup cars that were entered in the Toyota Yaris Cup and Starlet Cup one-make cup races. But also a Toyota Yaris GRMN as the fastest standard road-legal Yaris guarantees emotions. Toyota celebrated its comeback in the FIA World Rally Championship in 2017 with the 156 kW/212 hp compact sports car Yaris GRMN - the abbreviation stands for Gazoo Racing Meister of Nürburgring - which is limited to 400 units across Europe. Since then, the Yaris WRC has been a favorite there.
This contrasts with the Toyota 1000 and Toyota Starlet models, which set early standards in the small car segment as well-equipped family cars or chic hatchbacks.
Rarities meet the bizarre
During two free guided tours at 11.00 and 13.00, experts will provide background information and also present all the other highlights of Toyota's great model history. These include the spectacular Toyota Sera sports coupé with exciting butterfly doors, the rarest production version of the small Toyota Starlet. But pure show cars such as the Aygo Crazy converted into a lowrider for a bizarre commercial or a Toyota iQ mutated into a mobile disco ball also guarantee fun.
In total, the Toyota Collection displays around 70 vehicles from six decades, including off-roaders, racing cars, sports coupés, rare JDM models for the Japanese market (JDM stands for Japanese Domestic Market) and also cutaway models of hybrid vehicles.
Further information
Further information can be found on the Toyota Collection website.
