The Toyota CH-R's Baby Brother Could Arrive This Week

Apr. 22, 2020 6:50 AM ET by Aaron Brzozowski Reveal / 6 Comments

The C-HR will soon have some company in Toyota's subcompact crossover model range.

The Toyota C-HR is about to gain a little brother, as Toyota expands its crossover utility vehicle lineup by one model to take advantage of the segment's meteoric rise in popularity, and word has it that the new subcompact CUV could break cover this week.

According to Spanish outlet AutoNocion, the yet-unnamed small utility will be based on the Toyota Yaris, sharing that car's B-segment flavor of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) and, most likely, its powertrain lineup. That means power could come from a naturally aspirated 1.5L three-cylinder engine, with hybrid power and AWD available as options.

The new crossover - which could be called "B-HR," if Toyota sticks to the script - will slot below the C-HR in the lineup, constituting the second part of a two-model subcompact CUV lineup. That's similar to the approach taken by Nissan, with the Rogue Sport and the smaller, less-expensive Kicks, and by Hyundai, with the Kona and the more budget-friendly Venue.

Early sightings indicate that the new subcompact Toyota crossover could essentially look like a Yaris with a lift kit, although it's not known how production-representative those prototypes were.

Toyota's new small crossover was set to be unveiled last month at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, until concerns over the novel coronavirus outbreak prompted Switzerland to ban gatherings of more than 1,000 people, effectively canceling the event. The cancellation prompted many an automaker to host its planned debuts remotely, online, but Toyota decided to hold off.

That said, an April 23 reveal date still seems perhaps a bit premature, given that the new cute ute isn't expected to go on sale in Europe for about another year. Will it make an appearance in the US new car market? We expect so, given that the upward sales trajectory of crossovers has been as high here as anywhere else in the world.