Hot Toyota C-HR planned

As one of Toyota's most dynamic designs to date, the C-HR takes the once-staid Japanese brand in an exciting new direction – and that direction could be dialled up a few notches with a high-performance version of the upcoming small SUV.

Following a report earlier in the year concerning a sporty C-HR, the vehicle's chief engineer and self-confessed petrol-head, Hiroyuki Koba, told motoring.com.au that he's keen to make a faster version of the new sub-RAV4 SUV.

"I'd like to do that. If we have more power it's much more exciting, yes," he said. "I don't think we can fit a 2.0-litre turbo in that engine compartment, but a 1.5 or 1.6 turbo, I think we can do that."

The Toyota 86 coupe is already available and with plans to unleash its next Supra, co-developed with BMW, in 2018, followed by a third sports car, possibly based on the SFR concept, Toyota is clearly heading in dynamic new direction at the behest of global CEO Akio Toyoda.

We've just tested the all-new Toyota C-HR in Europe and although it's not the most agile compact crossover on the market, Koba – who owns a fourth-gen Toyota Supra and several other high-performance cars – said the chassis is more than capable of dealing with extra power.

He noted that bigger brakes and stiffer suspension were easy to develop and implement but inferred he'd prefer to keep ride comfort intact and not firm up the chassis too much.

The development team behind the C-HR has already successfully raced the C-HR at the Nurburgring 24 Hours race in Germany, where the 'N24' racing version was powered by a 120kW turbo-petrol engine displacing 1.5 litres.

But Koba-san insisted the C-HR can handle 150kW without torque steer becoming an issue.
"We can manage torque steer with drive shaft angle. Nurburgring race car has 160hp (120kW) and we have no trouble with torque steer. Maybe 200hp [149kW] we don't get torque steer."

The C-HR's engineering boss completed around 30 laps of the Nurburgring in the production car, which when it arrives in Australia in February 2017 will be powered by a 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine worth just 85kW.

If Toyota does green-light a go-fast version of the C-HR, it could become a potential rival for the 160kW Nissan JUKE NISMO expected to arrive in Australia in 2017.