SPY PICS: Toyota goes Juke hunting

Toyota has already committed to manufacturing a small SUV based on the C-HR concept car that made its debut in Paris last year, and now the first fruits of its labours have been seen in the open.

The car pictured here is a pre-production version understood to be built on Toyota's new TNGA platform, which will go public with the introduction of the new-generation Prius at the Tokyo motor show later this year. That leaves the way open for the new SUV to be hybrid-powered also.

UK magazine Autocar has reported that the production version of the C-HR will be called Auris Cross, presumably drawing on the rest-of-the-world name for the car we know as the Corolla hatch, with the 'Cross' suffix to suggest it will go 'cross-country' and/or it's a 'cross-over' blend of passenger car and SUV.

Compared with the show car, the pre-production model seems to have acquired a deeper airdam and production-ready grille with conventional fog lights, rather than the LED units seen in Paris. Toyota appears to have toned down the deep sculpture lines and the heavily radiused wheel arches for the production car. Naturally too, the pre-production vehicle is getting around on 'sensible-shoe' wheels and tyres. The rising waistline and what we can see of the C pillars and rear flanks point to a bit of Juke mimicry going on.

There's no set date for its global debut, but it will be sometime within the next two years. As to whether we can expect to see the C-HR/Auris Cross here, that will depend on landed cost and market appeal. Nissan took years to decide it would sell the Juke in Australia, but in Toyota's case there's a precedent for bringing in a car that's a bit quirky and a niche-volume seller – the Rukus.