Mystery Toyota sighting hints at new small electric SUV designed for Europe

Toyota has been testing a rather mysterious model in Germany, suggesting a new small SUV is being readied for the European market. 

Wearing the body of a Corolla Cross – an existing SUV that’s not available in the UK – this test vehicle might look fairly mundane, but there’s a good chance it’s hiding something more radical underneath.

That’s because this is an early development mule, a test vehicle that uses a body from a different – and often completely unrelated – model in place of prototype panels of the car it’ll eventually become.

Mules like this are generally created very early in the development cycle, so it’s unusual for Toyota, as a Japanese brand, to have one testing here in Europe. This tells us it could be a primarily Euro-focused project in a similar vein to the C-HR and Aygo X.

There are obvious clues that the model is all-electric, with the Corolla Cross’s shallow body not hiding much of the chassis and powertrain components. There’s no exhaust system, and the wheels also look relatively large for a car with these dimensions.

With all this in mind, we could be looking at a new B-segment crossover or SUV to compete against electric models such as the Volkswagen ID. Cross, Vauxhall Mokka and Renault 4.

This would give Toyota a model underneath the current C-HR+ in its range, sitting beside the Yaris Cross, which will remain in hybrid form for the time being.

However, with the firm in the process of creating a new, highly flexible architecture for all its global models, there is also a good chance that what we’re looking at here might feature this radical new tech.

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From a global perspective, we expect to see the new architecture deployed in the all-new Corolla that’s due to be revealed in the next 12–24 months. This is a model that will support petrol, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric powertrains, and will underpin other global models such as the next Yaris and Yaris Cross.

It comes as a surprise, then, to see this new architecture potentially being tested in the form of a small, electric SUV – a body style that is more important for Europe than just about anywhere else.

Regardless of whatever model is being tested here, though, it confirms that Toyota’s electrification plans are now moving ahead at speed. Alongside other legacy brands, Toyota is working quickly to sharpen up its model range in order to compete with the cheaper Chinese competition which has flooded the market.

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