We Catch Toyota's Subcompact SUV In The Wild

It's not a secret for anybody: people like SUVs, but they also like small vehicles that are easy to drive and park (as long as they don't need the interior space of a Chevrolet Suburban). In the last few years, manufacturers have seen that there is a market for smaller, high-riding vehicles.

You only need to take a look at the sales numbers of the Chevrolet Trax, Buick Encore and Nissan Juke to see that their segment is rapidly expanding; if that wasn't enough, Mazda with its CX-3 and Honda with its HR-V are joining the fray. According to rumours, Hyundai could also be working on a subcompact SUV.

Toyota announced that they wanted to join this segment soon; at the Paris Motor Show they teased us with a concept of a small, high-riding vehicle called the C-HR.

During a recent trip, our own Michel Deslauriers managed to snap a few shots of a prototype on the street; if our guesses are right, we could be looking at an early version of this Toyota subcompact SUV.

A quick look at the prototype's size makes us think that it would be a direct competitor to the Mazda CX-3 and its rivals. The vehicle could use Toyota's TNGA platform, which would mean that a front-wheel drive layout would come standard, with an AWD system optional.

It's possible that the small SUV could be sold under the Scion banner; Toyota's young branch is currently modernizing its offerings, and the manufacturer stated that they wanted to launch 3 new models. We already know about the iA and the iM, but we have yet to hear from the third member of this trio...

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