Toyota has updated the little Yaris Cross, the most-registered car in Ireland so far in 2026. The majority of the changes are found on the outside to keep the little hybrid crossover fresh.
What's new about the Yaris Cross's styling?
The biggest change to the Yaris Cross's look is a new grille and headlights. The grille now fits flush with the bodywork, is finished in body colour and has honeycomb slots to bring the Yaris Cross into line with the new RAV4 SUV's appearance.
Anything else?
The bumper and wheel arches have been lightly tweaked too, and the headlights are also new, with a ghostly LED outline around the edges of the lamps. There are also some new 17-inch and 18-inch alloy wheel designs.
New colour options too?
Indeed so. You can now have a new Precious Bronze colour which will come exclusively with contrast-black roof and pillars, and there's a new Celestite Grey, which replaces the previous Shimmering Silver option.
Anything new inside the Yaris Cross?
There aren't many changes to the (nearly all grey) interior of the Yaris Cross, aside from some new platinum-coloured trim strips, and new sports seat options.
There has been an increase in the use of recycled and sustainable materials, though, including a new 'SakuraTouch' material, which incorporates plant-derived PVC, waste cork and recycled PET plastics, which Toyota says reduces CO2 emissions during material production by 95 per cent compared to genuine leather.
There's also some new ambient lighting, and a new wireless phone charger.
The one in the photos looks a bit sporty...
Yup, that's the updated GR Sport model, which gets suede-style sports seats with grey upholstery and red stitching, along with the GR logo on the front headrests and steering wheel, while there are GR Sport-specific gunmetal-silver trim inserts in the doors and instrument panel.
Any mechanical changes?
Nope - the 115hp and 130hp three-cylinder 1.5-litre hybrid engines are unchanged.
On the safety front, there are some small adjustments, such as the addition of parking brake support and blind-spot monitoring, depending on the specification.
There is a four-wheel-drive option available in many markets, but that hasn't been offered in Ireland up until now and is unlikely to be in the future.
Irish prices for the updated Yaris Cross have yet to be confirmed and indeed, the pre-facelift model is still appearing on the Toyota Ireland website, so it probably has a few of them to register before it's ready to start selling the new one...