Toyota unveiled its C-HR Concept at Paris, almost exactly one year ago and since then, officials talked about putting it in production more than once. Well, it seems like they were serious, and our spy photographers just caught up with it on the Nurburgring for the first time.
Details are scarce at the moment and, from a design point of view, our previous set of spyshots of the new crossover offer a closer insight but the fact that the prototype was spotted on the Green Hell says a lot.
On the outside, the front end seems to resemble the new Toyota Prius with the sleek headlights extending towards the back. While this could say a lot about the way the car will look like, it could also be a hint at the powertrain.
Officials repeatedly said that a hybrid choice would be the best option so this is probably what we’re getting, but we have no details on the specifics just yet. Most likely, the crossover will be built atop the new Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) which means that the internal combustion engine will be, at most a 2-liter 4-cylinder most likely.
On top of that, we’ll be getting one or two electric motors to power the rear axle, making this all-wheel drive model a hybrid. Slotted under the RAV4 in the line-up, the gearbox choice will probably be limited to Toyota’s favorite, the CVT. If that’s the case, testing on the Nurburgring is rather redundant.
Sales should be good considering the Japanese’s history with hybrids and the current popularity SUVs and crossovers are experiencing worldwide but particularly in Europe. This could be the one car that sales better on the old continent than in the US.
As for the competition, that would be limited to the Nissan Juke for now in terms of size as the two will be rather different propositions altogether. Expect the new Toyota to be released somewhere close to the end of 2016.
Source: autoevolution
Founder of Auto Rebellion | Guest writer for zerotohundred.com