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The latest Toyota Aygo has been pretty successful in Europe so far - since its launch last summer, over 70,000 units have been sold throughout the continent. The city car line-up consists of three grades and three special editions, with one more now joining the range.

The Toyota Aygo x-cite features a new Cyan Splash exterior combined with piano black inserts for the trademark front 'X' graphic and rear bumper insert, while the front fender garnish and side mirrors are finished in black. The 15-inch five-spoke alloys are finished in gloss black and have Cyan Splash coloured centre caps. A blacked out roof and A-pillars can be specified.

It's the same theme inside, with Cyan Splash on the air vents and lots of gloss black for the dash.

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Perhaps more significant is the new Toyota Safety Sense set of active safety technologies that's now available on the Aygo. The option will be offered at 'a highly competitive price' to promote adoption.

Between speeds of approximately 10 to 80 km/h, Pre-Collision System (PCS) prompts the driver to brake with an audible and visual alert when there is a possibility of a collision with the car in front.

PCS also primes the brakes to deliver extra stopping force. If the driver fails to react in time, the system auto brakes, reducing speed by around 30 km/h or even bringing the car to a complete stop. This will prevent the collision or mitigate the force of impact.

The Lane Departure Alert (LDA) system monitors lane markings and helps prevent accidents and head-on collisions caused by leaving lanes. If the vehicle starts to deviate from the lane without the indicators on, LDA warns the driver with an audible and visual alert.

Recent studies conducted by Euro NCAP and Australia's ANCAP have proved that the use of low-speed Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) significantly reduces the number of road accidents. Through data collected from Australia and five European countries, they found a 38% reduction in real-world rear-end collisions for vehicles fitted with AEB compared to those without, in both urban (above 60 km/h) and rural (below 60 km/h) speed zones. Full story here.

The Aygo is powered by a 1.0 litre three-cylinder engine that's Euro 6 compliant. The VVT-i power unit delivers class-leading fuel economy of just 3.8 l/100 km (26.3 km/l) and CO2 emissions of only 88 g/km, and can be combined with a manual gearbox or automated manual transmission, both five-speeders.