THE ELECTRIFIED X FACTOR(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 30

Toyota's little Aygo X citycar goes Hybrid. Proving that your next tiny hatch doesn't have to be a full-EV. Maybe there's life in the segment for combustion power after all.

Background word count: 172

It's rare these days to come across a citycar, the smallest breed of compact hatch, that isn't an EV. But the Toyota Aygo X has been an exception since its launch back in 2022. Back then, most other major brands were declaring the citycar segment unprofitable, but Toyota has proved them wrong with this model, shifting over 300,000 units since the original launch, 14,000 of those in the UK in 2024. The Aygo X's achilles heel has always been its ancient and rather feeble 1.0-litre petrol engine, the origins of which date back to the turn of the century. And because of the relative inefficiency of that unit, Toyota hasn't been getting the ZEV EV mandate benefit from all those Aygo X sales that it might have had. Hence the decision with this rejuvenated model to switch to the 1.5-litre full-Hybrid powerplant from the Yaris supermini. That's clearly a better engine, but it also makes this Aygo X a more expensive car. Do the sums add up? Let's take a closer look.