2018 Toyota C-HR Revealed, But Don't Call It a Crossover

Admit it: you woke up today missing the Toyota Matrix, didn’t you? Could Toyota interest you in a modernized, reincarnated Matrix?

This is it. The Toyota C-HR is roughly an inch shorter than the old Matrix, two-tenths of an inch higher, and about an inch wider than the dearly departed hatchback that we likely wouldn’t call a mere hatchback if it arrived in 2016.

The C-HR is already in production in Sakarya, Turkey, but until the North American production-ready reveal at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show today, there were details unknown.

Now, some of the unknowns are known.

“It looks like nothing we’ve ever created, and ushers in a new era of Toyota style,” says Bill Fay, general manager of the Toyota division in the United States.

Uh, that’s for sure.

Initially intended to end up as a Scion in North America before the Scion brand was extinguished, the 2018 Toyota C-HR arrives to challenge subcompact crossovers in a burgeoning segment.

Though somewhat late to the party — there are already nearly a dozen rivals — the C-HR will beat the Ford EcoSport in the front door. But wait a minute. Is the C-HR really a direct rival for the Jeep Renegade, Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V, and a host of other small crossovers?

For the time being, the C-HR is a front-wheel-drive car only. AWD is an option in other markets.

Keep in mind, the front-wheel-drive-only Kia Soul sells more often in America than any of the subcompact crossovers that offer AWD. Claiming Nürburgring-honed handling, Toyota says the C-HR arrives in America with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder producing 144 horsepower and 140 lb-ft of torque exclusively linked to a continuously variable transmission.

There’ll be XLE and XLE Premium trims, with the upper grade adding heated front seats, power lumbar support for the driver, proximity access and, “puddle lamps that project Toyota C-HR.” Both the XLE and XLE Premium are equipped with Toyota’s Safety Sense P, but the XLE Premium adds blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert.

The C-HR first appeared as a concept at 2014’s Paris show, was altered for the 2015 Frankfurt auto show, and was then shown in production form earlier this year in Geneva, Switzerland. U.S. sales of the production car begin in the spring of 2017.

No AWD? Even the Matrix, a mere hatchback, offered four driven wheels.

Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.

[Images: Toyota]