The 2019 Toyota Aurion has been teased boasting a bolder look… it will be revealed in full at the Detroit Motor Show in January.
TOYOTA IS SAYING nothing about the 2019 Avalon it teased late last week other than “Style and Dynamism, Actualised”. It’s unknown, at this stage, whether this new Aurion will come to Australia.
When the new Camry was revealed at this year’s Detroit Motor Show, Toyota announced that it would supersede the Aurion here and that that model would be retired from Australia. The Camry sure seems to have all bases covered with its four-cylinder, hybrid four-cylinder and grunty V6 and, with the passenger car segment shrinking there might be no point bringing the Aurion back.
I tell you what, if Toyota would release the Avalon as a hybrid, adding twin electric motors at the back and having a combined usable power out put of 300kW/550Nm, I’d definitely consider it. Wouldn’t be hard to out do the Kia Stinker. However could we trust Toyota not to stick a disgusting CVT in it and ruin it. With a 8,9 or 10 spd auto, with full manual over-ride, awd (from the two rear motors driving each wheel), class leading economy, they’d be insane not to do it. Could easily be under $60K
Aussie fans of grunty cars are looking for a RWD preferably with a V8 or (if its the best we can get) a turbo six.
We know Toyota makes such cars. The trouble is that Toyota seems to want to stick Lexus badges on RWD V8’s. And that tends to make them much more expensive than the Kia Stinger or BMW M140i.
If a V6 FWD Aurion is the best that Toyota can offer I’d suggeat don’t bother. I’d prefer a V6 Supercharged Camry. Who is Toyota intending to target with the Aurion? The A-B brigade are happy with torque steering 3 cyl puss boxes and they don’t know their cars are 3 cyl or FWD. Families tend to go for Prados or Klugers etc. The target group in need of a decent product are the V8 RWD enthusiasts. Nothing to stop the inclusion of a 3.0L turbo diesel or a V6 to expand appeal.
The bottom line is that Kia and Hyundai are stealing a march on all Japanese car makers in that the Koreans are filling the gap left by the XR8 and the SSV. If Toyota wants to play in the gruntmobile market segment I think they need a car to match the Stinger and the G70. Once we grow used to the Korean duo we may not care that Toyota persists in its efforts to market FWD V6s.