Originally a rebadged Alto/A-Star city car for some markets, the Celerio was made as a global nameplate and a standalone model replacing the A-Star in 2014.

Prior to being developed as a standalone model from the second generation onwards, the "Celerio" nameplate was first used for the rebadged Alto/A-Star in some markets between 2008 and 2013.

[14][15] The basic version of the Celerio in India and Pakistan does not include airbags nor ABS and the body shell of the vehicle was rated by the Global NCAP as "unstable".

[18][19] ANCAP and Euro NCAP received criticism claiming they underscored the Celerio relative to other cars that had fewer airbags or performed worse in crash tests.

[20] Maruti Suzuki introduced its all new 793 cc diesel engine in the Celerio on 3 June 2015, at a price of INR 4.65 lacs.

[25][26] The car is built on lightweight HEARTECT platform that also underpins Wagon R and Ignis.

Reusing the nameplate from the older Japanese market Yaris, the Vitz replaced the Agya as Toyota's entry level, A-segment car in the country.