Toyota goes beyond boring and beige with the 2018 C-HR crossover

Toyota

The crossover market is so dominant that some automakers will stretch their brand identities to include more crossovers in their lineup. Consider Toyota: for more than a decade, it has been a steady, unassuming, massively successful automaker. Their cars are safe, reliable, and predictable—the default standard for many car buyers. If Toyota cars were music, they'd be played in elevators. You can maybe remove Toyota's trucks from the equation, but boring success will remain Toyota's raison d'être (until they bring back the Supra).

So, it raises eyebrows when Toyota kicks a door in with an aggressive design. Even though the crossover market is crowded and heavily competitive, there's always room for something new and different. When Toyota trotted out the C-HR in North America for 2018, it ticked "different" off the list immediately. Broad, low to the ground, yet trim and sleek from nose to haunches, the C-HR was an obvious departure from the conservative design concepts of the mega-selling RAV4 or Camry.

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