Upgraded Aurion Touring marks half century

Toyota began selling cars through distributor AMI back in 1959. 2009 thus marks the company's 50th anniversary of continuous sales in Australia. And Toyota seems to have been selling the 'special edition' Aurion Touring for about 25 of those 50 years...

The Aurion Touring (first announced more here, then reannounced more here and making a third appearance more here) is just following the same marketing strategy that stood Holden in good stead -- with the Commodore Lumina -- for more years than we care to remember. Presumably the Aurion Touring is a popular car, or Toyota wouldn't keep reintroducing it.

Now, at least, the Aurion Touring has been mildly updated, but still offers broadly the same value package as before. In lieu of the 16-inch alloy wheels fitted to the car previously, the Aurion Touring for 2009 is fitted with 17-inch alloys and a Sportivo grille. The car remains based on the Aurion AT-X, but features additional equipment worth $2700 retail (versus the $2500 worth of extra equipment in the previous iterations).

That extra equipment comprises: the 17-inch alloys already mentioned -- including the spare -- a rear spoiler, the Sportivo grille, sports headlights, sports tail lights, 50th anniversary decals, sports pedals, front fog lights, rear parking sensors, six-disc CD audio system, dual-zone climate control, leather-bound four-spoke steering wheel, leather gear knob and trip computer.

Price for the Aurion Touring is $34,990 (recommended price before statutory and delivery charges).

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