Aygo has been consistently recognized for its bold, stand-out design in the A-segment for city cars. Now ED2, Toyota’s European design headquarters in the South of France, is determined to offer small car customers even more boldness and spice.
Building on a style icon
Since its introduction in 2005, Aygo, Toyota’s most accessible car, has charmed youthful, progressive customers with its sense of playfulness and fun.
Appealing to a style-conscious audience, Aygo’s lively character and engaging driving dynamics have attracted many new European buyers to Toyota. But its stand-out qualities depend on always keeping ahead of the competition. More than ever, new Toyota customers are looking for flair, distinctiveness, and the chance to make a personal statement. ED2 set out to design a car specifically for them, building on Aygo’s position as a style icon in its segment.
A dedicated team with a clear mission
ED2 assigned a dedicated team to focus on delivering a unified message from start to finish. They were quickly convinced that there was an opportunity to create a bolder and stronger design and from this conviction, the Aygo X prologue was born.
Adding spice to the segment
The Aygo name has always symbolized personal freedom and mobility. With the Aygo X prologue, a cheeky, mischievous element is added to the mix. It’s just as much fun, but with an added edginess. It expresses its attitude from every angle, with a strong personality and even stronger stance. With the size of the wheels bumped up, the driver enjoys a higher eye-point for better visibility and the car has improved clearance for whatever the road might bring.
Styled to stand out
The Aygo X prologue’s mischievousness stands out, whether viewed from the front, rear or side. A bi-tone execution creates a graphic profile that grabs the attention on the street, emphasizing the car’s readiness to leap forward. A new, wedged roofline also increases the dynamic feeling and stronger sporty image. Set lower to the ground, the large grille, fog lights, and skid plate all build on a hexagon design theme and show that this is a car that’s ready to go, anywhere.
Colours of emotion
In life, colours are central to our emotions; this is also true for the Aygo X prologue. To bring the “spicy” concept to life, certain ingredients presented themselves, foremost among them chilli, ginger, wasabi and black pepper, with chilli the spiciest of them all. Using a bi-tone finish provided a further invitation to take colour balances to another level, while a fine sprinkling of metallic blue flakes in the paint adds a dazzling effect that makes the colour fully deserving of its name Sparkling Chilli Red.
Working together differently, and better
The challenge of creating the Aygo X prologue under the present working conditions has been a great test of ED2’s agile process for fast and fluid design development. Whether together or remotely, the design team worked seamlessly, from hand-sketching and digital sketch modelling, through virtual reality simulations and 3D “speedshapes” to the final car.