New CH-R coming to New Zealand early next year
Toyota New Zealand have confirmed that their chiseled new SUV venture, the C-HR, will be touching down in New Zealand for sale in early 2017.
“Every market wants this car,” said Steve Prangnell, Toyota New Zealand’s General Manager of Sales.
“It looks dramatic being driven but is equally eye-catching when parked and its compact size makes it an inspired choice for urban lifestyle use.”
In their official press release, Toyota cite that the five-door crossover market has exploded in New Zealand, swelling from 11 models in 2011 to 22 models in late 2016. Though time will tell whether the RAV4 and CH-R will play nicely together on the showroom floor. The pair are relatively similar in size, with the RAV4's wheelbase only 20mm longer than that of the CH-R.
The all-new C-HR will come with a turbocharged four-pot 1.2-litre petrol engine capable of 185Nm of torque available from 1,500rpm to 4,000rpm, with a choice of either two-wheel drive or all-wheel drive options. While other markets also have the option of a 1.8-litre hybrid or a 2.0-litre petrol, neither of these has been announced for the Kiwi market yet.
Having debuted at the 2014 Paris Motor Show, the CH-R is based upon the modular Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) platform — meaning that it shares the same bones as the current-generation Prius. Early iterations of the CH-R concept were reportedly intended to be produced on a smaller platform, only for the model to shift to the TNGA platform in early 2016.
Though full spec details are yet to be released, it has been confirmed that the CH-R will feature a number of advanced technologies; many of which coming under the Toyota Safety Sense banner. They include autonomous emergency braking, all-speed adaptive cruise control, lane departure alert with steering assist, and automatic high-beam headlights.
Pricing and specification details will be announced at the time of launch.