What year did they make a Toyota Echo?
The Toyota Echo was produced across several markets around the turn of the millennium. In North America, it appeared for model years 2000 through 2005, and in Japan the Echo name and related Platz/Vitz lineage existed from about 1999 to the mid‑2000s. Across many regions Toyota gradually replaced the Echo with the Yaris in the mid‑2000s.
Origins and Market Timeline
The Echo name was used in several regions, with different launch years and lifespans. Below is a regional snapshot to clarify when the Echo badge appeared and when it disappeared in major markets.
- United States and Canada: Marketed as the Echo starting with the 2000 model year; production continued through 2005, with the transition to the Yaris in 2006.
- Japan and other Asia‑Pacific markets: The Echo badge was tied to the Platz/Vitz lineage that began around 1999; in Japan the car lived on under Platz/Vitz styling with Echo branding used selectively during the transitional period.
- Europe and other markets: The Echo name was less common; many regions used the Yaris branding from early on or branded the car as Platz/Vitz depending on local marketing and generation.
Overall, regional production spans show the Echo as a late‑1990s to mid‑2000s model with a global replacement by the Yaris in the mid‑2000s.
Milestones in Brief
- 1999: Toyota introduces Platz/Vitz in Japan, the underlying platform that would underpin Echo variants in some markets.
- 2000–2005: United States and several other markets receive the Echo as a distinct model; the car is later phased out.
- 2006: Toyota largely retires the Echo name in favor of the Yaris, consolidating subcompact branding.
To summarize, the Toyota Echo existed roughly from 1999 in Japan to the mid-2000s in North America and other markets, with the Yaris replacing it in the mid‑2000s.
Summary
The Toyota Echo was a turn‑of‑the‑century subcompact whose exact production years varied by region, but broadly spanned from around 1999 (Japan) through 2005–2006 in North America and other markets, before the Yaris era began.
