Toyota’s Nissan Juke rival could be made in Thailand or Europe.
Toyota is in dire need of a compact SUV to compete with the likes of the Nissan Juke, Honda HR-V, Renault Captur and the Suzuki SX4 S-Cross. The world’s largest carmaker does not offer such a product in markets like Europe and India (the Etios Cross doesn’t qualify for the ‘SUV’ tag) where the trend is catching on, while in certain Asian markets like Indonesia, its Rush compact SUV is now nearing the end of its lifecycle.
The C-HR concept would spawn a compact SUV sometime in 2016.
However, the carmaker will introduce a compact SUV most likely in 2016, and it would be based on the concept C-HR which debuted at the Paris Motor Show last week.
Karl Schlicht, Toyota managing officer and executive vice president of Toyota Motor Europe’s sales group, told Car Advice that the company will build a car like the C-HR in the very near future. He said the production model would not be seen next year, but at the same time, it wouldn’t take several years.
The executive also revealed that the car could be built in Thailand or Europe, and that the size of it would be much smaller than the RAV-4.
The concept at Paris had a hybrid powertrain.
Also read: 2016 Toyota Innova spied testing in Bangalore again
The C-HR based compact SUV would serve as an ideal product for Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), which currently relies on the Innova to drive volumes.
Competitors: Nissan Juke, Hyundai ix25, Peugeot 2008, Honda HR-V (Honda Vezel), Maruti-Suzuki SX4 S-Cross, Renault Captur
Expected Price: About 15,000 GBP (around INR 15 lakhs)
Launch date: 2016 in Europe
Toyota C-HR Concept – Image Gallery
[Source - Car Advice]
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