The Aygo-ing’s good for star competitors in the first Student Gumball Rally with Toyota backing the participation of nine of the cast from Channel 4’s sun-and-surf reality show, Shipwrecked.

The former desert island-dwellers are being reunited for the rally challenge, sharing the driving duties in a fleet of four dazzle-painted Aygos. Flagged off from Dover Town Hall this Sunday (3 September), they will be among 150 cars and more than 500 students hitting a 1,500-mile, six-day course down to the coast of Croatia.

The Toyota Aygo has achieved the overall top spot at the 2006 AA/ALD Automotive MPG Marathon on 4 and 5 October. Driving an Aygo 1.4 D-4D, James Sutherland and Richard Hill from Peak Performance obtained an overall fuel economy of 83.44mpg, more than 20 per cent better than the official combined figure of 68.9mpg.

The Toyota Aygo successfully defended its crown as the most economical car on the roads at the 2007 AA/ALD Automotive MPG Marathon on 3 and 4 October.

Driving an Aygo 1.0 litre, James Sutherland and Richard Hill from Peak Performance – the same pairing who won last year – finished ahead of every other car, even economy specials. Using just 19.12 litres of petrol they achieved an overall consumption figure of 78.39 mpg, an improvement of nearly 28 per cent over the official combined figure. Three of the top four cars in the event were regular production Toyota Aygos, proving its frugal behaviour is not solely due to technical tricks or the specialist driving techniques of the drivers – everybody can get great fuel economy from an Aygo.

Changes to the Central London Congestion Charge announced today open the way for even more Toyota vehicles to travel in the capital for free. From 27 October, cars in bands A and B for Vehicle Excise Duty – those emitting less than 120g/km of carbon dioxide – will receive a 100 per cent discount.

There’s blue, then there is Aygo Blue. This spring Toyota’s award-winning city car has a fresh look with a new dedicated Slate Blue metallic paint finish.

The colour co-ordination includes the door mirrors and bumper inserts on the outside and continues inside the cabin with new carpet mats with matching blue stitching and slate blue bezels for the air vents and instrument display.

Aygo Crazy is the perfect antidote to all those wild concept cars that look great on the show stand but never turn a wheel. It is a unique machine that has been developed from the start to deliver no-holds-barred maximum driving pleasure, an unforgettable, fun experience.

Making its public debut at the British International Motor Show in London, Aygo Crazy is a one-off model, a “shopping supercar” that takes Aygo’s essential qualities to the limit. Owing more to the spirit of Group B rallying rather than D1 drifting, this is a car that is all about the joy of driving: with no electronic handling aids, no power steering and no ABS, it is like a kart with doors and a roof.

Toyota’s “shopping supercar”, Aygo Crazy, will make an unexpected early public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 11-13 July.

The mid-engined, 200 horsepower Aygo will be driven by Scotsman, Peter Dumbreck, who drives a 500bhp Lexus in the Japanese SuperGT series.

Aygo is a success story in miniature. Since launch in 2005 this small but perfectly formed Toyota has amassed more than 100,000 sales a year across Europe, its combination of low cost of ownership, contemporary styling and fun-to-drive character making it a top performer in the expanding A-segment.

Now the factors that have made Aygo a winner have been further sharpened to make it an even stronger proposition. The result is the new 2009 Aygo, on sale now.

The revised Aygo range includes two new feature models, Aygo Blue and Aygo Black, with exclusive equipment specifications, plus the established Aygo and Aygo+, in three and five-door body styles. All are powered by the Engine of the Year class-winning 1.0-litre VVT-i petrol unit, with five-speed manual or MultiMode transmission.