BEIJING MOTOR SHOW: Toyota electrifies C-HR

Toyota used last week's Beijing motor show to unveil a new battery-powered version of its C-HR compact SUV that's claimed to preview a production model that will be on sale in China in 2020.

The Japanese car-maker didn't reveal full specifications of its pure-electric C-HR but confirmed it would be just one of 10 electric cars that Chinese buyers will be offered before the end of this decade.

As well as the C-HR, Toyota also confirmed it would launch a plug-in version of the Chinese Corolla and Levin sedan over the same period.

All will be developed, engineered and manufactured within China following a huge investment in local R&D facilities in the region.

Based on the same platform as the petrol-powered C-HR, the battery-only CH-R is the first pure-electric model to emerge based on Toyota's highly flexible TNGA architecture that also underpins the Prius.

Demand continues to rapidly ramp up for ultra-low or zero-emission vehicles in China. In 2017 Toyota sold more than 140,000 electrified vehicles alone.

Causing huge controversy, last year the Chinese government confirmed that it had begun considering banning the sale of diesel and petrol cars and vans 'in the near future' in response to concerns over localised air quality.

The decision to ban the production and sale of combustion-engined cars in the world's biggest market would have huge implications for a global car industry that made more than 28 million cars in the world's most populous nation last year.

Volvo's parent company, Geely, says it is firmly on track to make and sell one million pure-electric cars in China alone by 2025.

China has already announced that by the end of 2018 eight per cent of all car-makers' sales must consist of either battery-powered or plug-in hybrid vehicles. That figure rises to 12 per cent in 2020.