2022 Is the Final Model Year for the Toyota C-HR in the U.S.

The funky Toyota C-HR will be discontinued in North America after the 2022 model year. However, there will be a next generation in Europe, as previewed by a recent concept car released by Toyota (bottom picture).

If you want a Toyota C-HR, you better act fast. The subcompact SUV will exit the North American market and will be a European exclusive model from the 2023 model onwards. For 2023, the C-HR will be fully redesigned with styling based on the C-HR Prologue Concept. The reason for the discontinuation of this model was noted by Toyota themselves: the new Toyota Corolla Cross, Corolla Cross Hybrid and the RAV4 all offer a great package at a similar price point to the C-HR. As a matter of fact, the aforementioned Toyota crossovers likely all make more sense than the C-HR, as when you start looking at the specs, the RAV4 offers more space on the interior and the Corolla Cross costs less than the C-HR. So, unless you just want a funky styled small SUV WITHOUT AWD, there’s less of a reason to pick the C-HR vs. its Toyota sibling vehicles. And over the past decade, we’ve seen these funky styled SUVs all fall by the wayside for slightly larger/more conventional options: the Nissan Juke, the Nissan Cube, Chevy’s HHR, the entire Scion brand (which I recall reading somewhere that the C-HR was supposed to be a Scion at some point – who knows) etc. etc.

Competitors for the C-HR include all of the SUVs in the subcompact category, such as the Honda HR-V, Chevy Trax, Ford EcoSport (also now discontinued), Jeep Renegade, Hyundai Kona, Kia Soul and Seltos, and more. This is a crowded and competitive segment. But while the styling of the C-HR is unique, I find most of these vehicles from my experience to be rather basic in their execution unlike a larger SUV.

Ugly duckling no more! The 2023 Prius goes
on sale next year.

For those of you in Europe, you can look forward to the next C-HR coming with a plug-in hybrid powertrain sourced from the new Prius Prime. And speaking of the new Prius – what do you think of it? I can’t believe it looks so good now! In addition to striking styling, the new Prius will offer a hands-free driving system, more power (between 194 and 220 HP), and available AWD with 0-60 times in the 6.5 to low-7 second range - much faster than the current Prius. The Prius Prime’s 220 HP will make it the “sportiest” Prius, so we can expect similar driving feel from the new C-HR I’d guess.

Will you miss the C-HR? With a very differentiated crossover lineup, I don’t think too many people will cry over the loss of one Toyota SUV.

Copyright © 2022 Adam's Autos, All Rights Reserved.