Toyota’s baby SUV is coming
We told you first; Nissan Juke rival is on the way
TOYOTA is promising a “standalone” approach with its forthcoming Nissan Juke-rivalling small SUV, which it confirmed plans for last week.
As detailed exclusively by Auto Express at the start of this month (Issue 1,607), the new model will use the same TNGA-B architecture that underpins the new Yaris.
However, in confirming plans for the car’s production, Toyota said that, while it will be built alongside the supermini in France, it will have a distinct look of its own. A single official teaser sketch suggests an edgier design theme than that used on the Yaris.
Toyota Europe’s Vice-President Matt Harrison said the car will “not be just a Yaris with body cladding and raised suspension”. The new model will sit below the C-HR in the company’s line-up, and Toyota estimates that by 2025, 30 per cent of the brand’s sales in the region will be accounted for by the Yaris and its sister SUV.
The as-yet-unnamed new arrival will be longer and wider than a Yaris – as well as having what Toyota Europe President Johan van Zyl called “the height of a proper SUV”. Toyota sources also revealed that the new model will be available with the electric motor-based AWD-i four-wheel-drive system from the RAV4. It’s all but certain that the upcoming SUV will be hybrid only – at least until Toyota’s Gazoo Racing division gets round to producing a version of it.
Toyota hasn’t issued an on-sale date for the car, but we still expect it to make a public debut sometime this year, with sales beginning in the first half of 2021.