2010 Toyota Auris HSD among five European debuts at Geneva Motor Show

By Tim Beissmann | February 16th, 2010

Toyota is looking to put a troubled start to the new decade behind it with the European premieres of five new vehicles at next month’s Geneva Motor Show.

Headlining the unveilings is the world’s first look at the showroom-ready Toyota Auris (Corolla in Australia) HSD (hybrid synergy drive).

Built in Britain at Toyota’s Burnaston factory, the Auris HSD will join the European line-up mid-year and marks another step towards Toyota’s ambition to make hybrid powertrain technology available throughout its entire model range by the beginning of the next decade.

Joining it on the podium will be the Prius Plug-In Hybrid and the all-electric FT-EV II sports car concept, as well as Toyota’s next generation fuel cell hybrid vehicle, the FCHV-adv.

Of most immediate relevance to Australia is the debut of the 2010 Toyota RAV4, which will display a sophisticated, Toyota-family front end and a revised interior.

Toyota will hold its press conference and official unveilings at the Geneva Motor Show on March 2.

Pg

that Rav4 is very close to the tiguan and audi q5 in the front end…

Hung Low

Agree, the headlight s are almost identical!

Frenchie

Design using the same CAD system and probably manufactured in the same factory.

Shak

A Toyota made in the same factory as an Audi, and a Volkswagen. Well i dont see them running their owners off the road.

nick

Actually I think it looks more like a Tribeca from the front.

D

The people that have negative voted your comment are just in denial, in fact they should be happy because Toyota has finally decided to made a good looking car- even if it means copying Audi.
The Real Car Fanatic

Perhaps they are hoping their massive accelerator and brake failure will be blamed on VW/Audi if it looks like one?
spellbound

True very VAG , still its better looking than that fugly ix35 , toyota finally does a good euro .

Pg

yeah its ok
but that large overhang is going to help any off-roading that some owners may try

jdmfreak

Guys, check out the JDM Toyota Vanguard

Valet Dabess

omg every time i see the ft 86 i drool, ust bring it out already

Hung Low

It is a sexy design!
The Other Brad

If only the picture of it were about 3000ish pixels wide…

Neil

How is that Rav4 of any interest to Australian consumers? The model displayed in this article is the Jap/Euro version of the Rav4, not the US-spec 7-seater model sold here.

Golfschwein

It’s a better looker than the one we get.
Dlr1

The relevance is that the front end is common between both versions. It is primarily the rear of the vehicle behind the rear doors that is extended in the US/Australian version. The interior is also common, hence any change to those areas is entirely relevant to the Australian buyer.

Bob

That corolla body shape is already available in Australia. And it doesn’t look nearly as good in the photos for three main reasons:

1. The car in the pic is much lower than reality.
2. The windscreen is max tinted (which can never be achieved legally)
3. Those wheels are nice..and not available in Aus.

Makes me wonder how good that RAV will actually look with the crap pizza cutters it will really be sold with in Aus.