In 2016, the Toyota C-HR was really special

The first Toyota C-HR was unveiled in stages in the first half of 2016. Its razor-sharp body made the tongues loose at AutoWeek.nl at the time, with the opponents initially even seeming to be in the majority. Toyota had clearly taken a gamble with this car on the market, but at least the C-HR was not boring. That’s important, because in fairness the rest of the Toyota range was at the time.

Just a sketch of the situation. In 2016, the current Corolla was not yet available, so the second generation of the Auris was still in the showrooms. Especially as a TS and with hybrid technology, that car was quite popular, but also very good. The same applied to the Yaris of those days, the Avensis that was still around for a while, the seven-seater Prius+ that had been around for a long time, the Verso for those who found even a Prius+ too exciting and the RAV4, which in its penultimate appearance also emphatically around the themes ‘safe’ and ‘well-behaved’. Are you still awake? Great, but now comes the final blow: the Toyota Verso-S was also still in the showrooms at the time. Yes, an MPV-like car in the vein of the Opel Meriva, but also a car that, just like the Meriva, was – and is – often found in the parking lot of nursing homes. And no, not just when all those young families come to visit…

Colleague Marco in a Verso-S.

Was every Toyota boring at the beginning of 2016? Not that. Of course the brand supplied a Land Cruiser, the Aygo had already started its second life and there was also a GT86 for a while. In addition, the fourth generation of the Toyota Prius appeared a year earlier in 2015. That is the car that, together with the C-HR, not only launched the new design, but also the TNGA platform. The two models were given the task of ‘No more boring cars!’, Toyota’s boss famously said Akio Toyoda, to concretize. The C-HR did this first of all with a special positioning, somewhere between the B and C segment. This gave Toyota a foresight, because the T-Rocs, CX-30s, Arkanas and Niros are now flying around us left and right.

Among those cars, however, the original C-HR remains special to this day. From head to butt, but especially the rear makes an impression. This is where all those busy lines of the rest of the carriage seem to converge. The ‘floating’ roof ends in a large roof spoiler, the rear window is extremely flat, there is still a small spoiler on the lid and the C-shaped taillights seem to firmly embrace the tailgate. The ‘Coupe’ in the name, which stands for ‘Coupe High Rider’, is underlined by the high tucked rear door handles and the extremely small rear side window, which make the C-HR a less pleasant means of transport for small children. The interior was equally special. Instead of the businesslike, predictable style that had been used at Toyota until then, the C-HR received brightly colored accents, a modern layout and all sorts of useless but fun decorations. The low seating position that Toyota promised was a bit disappointing, but the black sky gave the C-HR a fairly sporty feel.

So the C-HR had its drawbacks, but the advantages were more noticeable from the start. The hybrid technology economical model simply drove well, was well put together and the pricing was apparently also favorable. As so often – we’re looking at you, Nissan Juke – the car proved that a polarizing design certainly doesn’t mean a car doesn’t sell. Dutch car buyers also apparently like to drive something special, as long as it doesn’t get too crazy and too impractical. In total, Toyota has so far managed to sell around 22,000 C-HRs in our country, with which the model made a solid contribution to the upward trend that Toyota shows in terms of sales in our country. Netherlands boring? Yes, just like Toyota for sure!