The new Toyota C-HR is one of the most radical things the Toyota brand has done in years. But although the Euro-focused crossover will be making it to the United States next year, we won’t be getting its 1.2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder or hybrid powertrains. We initially reported this news in our first-drive review of the Europe-spec version, but there’s more background on the decision.
Chief engineer Hiroyuki Koba told us at the launch that the only engine for the U.S. will be a 144-hp naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder that will work solely in conjunction with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). That’s a higher output than the new 114-hp 1.2-liter unit can muster, but the older 2.0-liter engine’s relative lack of torque—its peak of 139 lb-ft arrives at a high 3800 rpm, while the turbo’s 137 lb-ft is available from just 1500 rpm—means that Toyota claims near identical zero-to-62-mph times for both cars (11.1 seconds for the front-drive turbo, 11.0 seconds for the front-drive 2.0-liter).
The lack of a gasoline-electric model for the U.S. is acknowledgment of how tough it is to sell hybrids at the moment. The C-HR sits on the same global TNGA-C platform as the new Prius, and Koba confirmed there is no engineering reason to prevent the hybrid from being sold in the States; Toyota simply thinks that demand isn’t there. The hybrid uses the familiar Atkinson-cycle 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine in conjunction with a 70-hp electric motor, with Toyota claiming an 11.0-second zero-to-62-mph time. This could well be the first time a car has been sold with three different engines offering nearly identical acceleration numbers.
The hybrid’s role isn’t to offer a sexier alternative to the Prius but rather to help sell cars in emissions-conscious Europe. Toyota says it will never build a diesel-powered C-HR, meaning the hybrid is aimed squarely at those who get taxed on CO2 emissions, as in most European countries. The company is predicting that three-quarters of the C-HRs sold across Europe will be hybrids.
Koba also admitted that a faster version is a possibility, although he stressed that there are no plans for one yet. He raced a prototype C-HR with a more powerful 160-hp version of the turbocharged engine at the Nürburgring earlier this year, so there’s certainly the potential, if not necessarily the will, to make a performance derivative.
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