The 2017 Toyota C-HR goes on-sale this week in Australia with prices starting from $26,990+ORC for the six-speed manual front-drive…

THE 2017 TOYORTA C-HR has arrived in Australia and goes on-sale priced from $26,990+ORC for the entry-level six-speed manual front-drive variant. An CVT-equipped version can be had for an additional $2000.00; on-demand all-wheel drive variants add an extra $2000.00 to the price of the CVT.

The top-of-the-range Koba variant, named after the C-HR’s chief engineer Hiroyuki Koba, gets leather-accented seats, keyless entry, 18-inch alloys, LED lights and nanoe technology which offers clever filtration of the air-conditioning system; we’ll explain this in greater detail in our road test later this week.

Pricing for the 2WD manual is $26,990; 2WD CVT is $28,990; 2WD CVT Koba is $33,290; AWD CVT is $30,990; and $35,290 for the AWD Koba (all plus on-roads). The C-HR is the first Toyota to offer five-years capped price servicing at $195 per service.

Toyota says its new C-HR boasts an entry point that matches many of its key competitor’s second-tier models. Key features, as standard, include sat-nav, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, active cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, blind spot monitor, rear cross-traffic alert and rain-sensing wipers.

Under the bonnet is a 1.2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol that makes 85kW from 5200-5600rpm and 185Nm of torque from 1500-4000rpm. This engine is Euro 6 and drinks 95RON, consuming from 6.3-6.5L/100km combined.

According to Tony Cramb, Toyota Australia’s boss of sales and marketing, “C-HR will bring new customers to the Toyota brand – typically younger, image-conscious people who take a more emotional approach to purchasing a car compared with more traditional customers.”

Toyota has secured 6000 cars for the remainder of the year and claims it could sell many times more than that; it has more than a month’s worth of sales in pre-orders so far. Dealer wholesale deliveries begin at the end of this week.

At the local launch of the C-HR, Toyota said development of the C-HR began in 2010 and was originally planned to sit on the company’s old platform, but a decision was taken to delay development until the Toyota New Generation Architecture (TNGA) platform (the brand’s global platform that will underpin everything from small cars to SUVs).

Read our first drive of the new C-HR in Australia.