Toyota News: Rumorpile: Next Toyota Avalon To Become A Hybrid

[William Maley]

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 15, 2012

Riddle me this Batman; what future car is Toyota Division Group Vice President and General Manager, Bob Carter talking about.

Will have “more room than a BMW X5, be faster than a (Volkswagen) TDI and have higher mpg than a Fiat 500.”

The answer, well it could be one of two things; a new model Toyota is working on or the new Avalon. What? The Avalon? Yes, and here’s how. To have more room than a BMW X5, the vehicle would need an interior volume greater than 102.4-cubic feet. To beat a Volkswagen TDI, the vehicle would need to produce more than 140 HP and 235 lb-ft of torque. To best a Fiat 500 in mileage, the vehicle would need to best 30 MPG City and 38 MPG Highway.

Using some process of elimination, we can eliminate the Prius v and new Prius c. We can also eliminate the NS4 concept and the recently updated Camry Hybrid. The final clue leading us to the Avalon is Carter stating the vehicle have “lavish features rarely found in near-luxury vehicles.”

Whether this process of elimination pans out or not, we’ll likely see this model sometime in 2012.

Source: Ward’s Auto via Autoguide

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[Robert Hall]

That sounds like the Camry-sized Prius midsizer that is rumored to be coming at the top of the Prius line...

[smk4565]

Camry Hybrid drive train will go into the Avalon and Lexus ES. The 2 most boring cars on the road just got even more boring.

[ocnblu]

Electrification? I'm over it.

[Drew Dowdell]

Toyota has been talking a lot of smack lately for a company that just got bitchslapped 18 months ago.

I mean, when do you remember Toyota ever going around saying "Oh... next time we'll be better than Buick/VW/BMW/Fiat"

..... and all in one car.