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Electric Toyota C-HR Unveiled in China, Looks Futuristic

Toyota has repeatedly said no to electric vehicles or made it seem they were coming further down the line. So when a battery-only version of the C-HR was unveiled at Auto Shanghai 2019, we were a little surprised.
Electric Toyota C-HR Unveiled in China, Looks Futuristic 6 photos
Photo: Toyota
Electric Toyota C-HR Unveiled in China, Looks FuturisticElectric Toyota C-HR Unveiled in China, Looks FuturisticElectric Toyota C-HR Unveiled in China, Looks FuturisticElectric Toyota C-HR Unveiled in China, Looks FuturisticElectric Toyota C-HR Unveiled in China, Looks Futuristic
You may not know it, but you're actually looking at two cars, not one. The electric C-HR will be made by the GAC venture while the mica-colored one is called the IZOA and will be put together by FAW. What's the difference? Without full specs, there's no way of telling, but availability is probably one of them.

Regardless, we really enjoyed the look of this model. Designing a new, streamlined front end for a crossover must be the most fun job in the design business. But we're fans of the Kia Soul, so maybe we don't know anything about style. The C-HR gets a new identity from its fresh bumper and smaller wheels. The only other changes we were able to spot are the digital dashboard and a smaller hybrid-style shifter.

Considering the C-HR was one of the first cars to be based on the TNGA platform, we wouldn't be surprised if the Corolla also got the BEV treatment. However, it's worth knowing that China already has a Corolla PHEV.

Along with these two EVs, Toyota also presented the Rhombus concept and the new RAV4 hybrid in Shanghai this week. The Japanese company announced that it plans to have 10 battery-motivated cars in China by around 2025. Globally, it's looking to sell more than 5.5 million electrified vehicles by 2030. To put that into perspective, they managed 13 million hybrids in the past 22 years.

What does this mean for the rest of the world? Nothing or everything. The trend in America is separate the greens from the ICEs - Civic vs. Insight, Corolla vs. Prius. So for their next big step, we want to see a bespoke nameplate that puts Toyota on the map in that crucial $35,000 segment.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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