Expansion of Toyota battery production, C-HR PHEV in detail

Toyota is preparing to start producing batteries for its plug-in hybrid vehicles in Turkey.

The batteries will likely be included in the next-gen C-HR SUV, which will again be made in Turkey for the European market.

According to Toyota, the new C-HR will be offered with hybrid and plug-in hybrid options, but without pure petrol engines. While the next-gen model has yet to be revealed in production form, the brand has previewed it with the C-HR Prologue Concept.

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The new C-HR Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) will be the first PHEV to be produced at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Turkey (TMMT). The brand says it will produce the vehicle’s batteries in-house, making TMMT the company’s first European factory equipped with a battery production line.

Production of the C-HR’s plug-in battery units is scheduled to begin in December 2023, creating “around 60 new skilled jobs.” This battery production line will have a capacity of 75,000 units per year.

The total investment for this project is estimated at around 317 million euros ($490.15 million) and is another milestone towards Toyota’s goal of a 100 percent CO2 reduction of its European vehicle range by 2035.

When Toyota unveiled the C-HR Prologue in December, it confirmed the car as a launcher for Australia – but it didn’t detail when we can expect to see the new model in local showrooms, nor if the PHEV will be available. The lack of a “no” suggests it’s on the horizon.

As before, the Swoopy C-HR will be positioned alongside the Corolla Cross in the small SUV segment, above the smaller Yaris Cross and below the larger RAV4. Think of it as a Corolla Cross ‘coupe’.

It’s likely that the C-HR will feature a similar powertrain lineup to the recently launched overseas Prius, including 103kW 1.8-liter and 144kW 2.0-liter hybrid options, plus a 164kW -2.0 liter plug-in hybrids.

The new Prius PHEV has a 13.6 kWh lithium-ion battery and, according to preliminary European specifications, should be able to drive up to 69 kilometers without emissions.

Currently, the Prius PHEV is only available in Europe, with Japan and North America only getting the hybrids at launch – in both 2WD and E-Four AWD guises.

Toyota makes versions of the current C-HR at its Japanese and Turkish factories, with Australia sourcing its vehicles from the former. That’s one of the reasons we don’t get the more powerful 2.0-liter hybrid powertrain available in Europe, as well as locally in the related Corolla Cross and Lexus UX.

Currently, prices for the C-HR range from $31,715 for the base gasoline GXL 2WD 1.2L Turbo, rising to $38,465 for the GR Sport and Koba 2WD Hybrids. All prices are exclusive of road costs.

Given the state of the industry and the likelihood that the next C-HR will be mostly if not fully hybridized, we could see the base price jump to $35,000 for a well-specified entry-level model and midway for a top-of-the-line model climbs from $40,000. spec. Hybrid.

The original C-HR was unveiled at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show and launched in Australia in early 2017 as an all petrol engine. life facelift arrived on site in December 2019.

It remains a solid seller in Australia throughout its lifecycle, despite supply issues, posting annual growth of 21.3 per cent in 2022 to 7977 registrations for the calendar year.

That put Toyota’s coupe crossover ahead of Honda HR-V (4717 units), Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (5973 units), Suzuki Vitara (3114 units) and Volkswagen T-Roc (3627 units) in the mainstream small SUV annual sales race.

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