Toyota unveils all-electric C-HR SUV at Shanghai Motor Show

KUALA LUMPUR: The ongoing Shanghai Motor Show is one of the biggest motor events in China and is a fertile playground for big marques to flaunt their new offerings. Amidst this, Toyota has taken the stage to reveal its first ever EV, which is an entirely electric version of C-HR city SUV.

The electric four-wheeler will be launched in 2020 and is intended to be available exclusively for China. A total of ten EVs are under development by the company, and this electric C-HR city SUV is the first among them. Furthermore, Toyota has an ambitious plan to sell more than 5.5 million electric vehicles across the globe each year by the end of the next decade.

The company has also released a promotional video on Youtube that reveals a few details about the EV. The clip shows that the battery is mounted on the vehicle chassis’s floor. This battery powers an electric motor, which is housed under the hood and the drive is delivered to the front wheels.

Since there is no engine exhaust, the EV also does away with any sort of conventional grille and equips a panel instead. One can also find the frequent usage of ‘Electric’ badges on the car’s body. There are also several body cuts from nose to tail of the vehicle that makes it a bit aggressive.

The electric C-HR will be assembled in China by the company’s joint venture manufacturing partner, FWA. Moreover, the company refrained from giving any words about the vehicle’s future availability in Malaysia or any other region outside China.

Besides electric C-HR, Toyota also unveiled a PHV Corolla sedan and a concept car named Rhombus. The latter is also the first product to be designed under the company’s new Chinese research and development division. Not much information is available about the concept car, but an image of its interior reveals a few details. This includes a three-spoke steering wheel with a number of controls on it, a dash with an infotainment panel and a digital instrument cluster.