Toyota Motor Corp., one of the few automakers to post higher sales in China last year, is adding a crossover developed specifically for the country, expanding its light-truck lineup.
The company’s newest model, the Toyota Wildlander, hit the market last week, and is available in gasoline and hybrid versions, according to Toyota’s joint venture with GAC Motor Co., where it is produced.
The gasoline Wildlander, powered by a 2.0-liter gasoline engine, has a starting price of 171,800 yuan ($24,790). The hybrid version, fitted with a 2.5-liter gasoline engine, is priced from 205,800 yuan and above.
The gasoline and hybrid versions each offer two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive variants.
The Wildlander shares Toyota’s TNGA-K platform with the eighth-generation Toyota Camry and Lexus ES. TNGA stands for the Toyota New Global Architecture.
The crossover is 4,665 mm long, 1,855 mm wide and 1,680 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,690mm.
It is the fourth crossover the Toyota brand has produced in China, following the RAV4, CH-R and Izoa.
Toyota was one of the few automakers to buck the extended downturn in China’s new-vehicle market in 2019.
The Japanese company delivered roughly 1.62 million vehicles under the Toyota and Lexus brands in China in 2019, rising 9 percent from a year earlier.
Sales at the Toyota brand rose 8.4 percent to roughly 1.42 million while deliveries at Lexus surged 25 percent to top 200,000.
