The Toyota Vitz was a popular subcompact 3, or 5 door hatchback, launched in 1999, and sold in export markets as the Yaris and the Echo. It went on to win european car of the year, and has been a popular family car. The Vitz was available with a petrol-powered 4-cylinder 1.0 L, or a 1.3 L engines, featuring Toyota's VVT-i technology. Also, a sporty warm-hatch 1.5L T Sport was released in 2001. The popularity of the Vitz led to the tri-branded compact car rivalry with Honda's release of the similarly sized and priced, Fit and Nissan's re-styling of the March.

The Vitz has become a popular tuning base among mini cars. Superchargers, turbo kits, suspension upgrades, aeroparts are all available for the Vitz from top parts manufacturers such as Trust and HKS. Many great performing and looking examples of the Vitz can be seen throughout Japan. From regular commuter cars, to race car/low riding street cruiser, the Vitz has been transformed many times over, and its popularity continues to stay strong.

To help make motorsports a more accessible pastime to the everyday consumer, Toyota started the Netz Cup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitz