Toyota C-HR discontinued in Thailand, the door to Vietnam is becoming increasingly narrow

Toyota Thailand confirmed in late August that it has no plans to bring the new Toyota C-HR to this market. The message sent by Toyota Thailand branch means that the Toyota C-HR has been officially discontinued.

The current generation of Toyota C-HR was launched in March 2016 and arrived in Thailand in January 2018. The car reached its peak that year with sales of 15,930 units and immediately became the segment leader, overtaking the Honda HR-V.

However, since the launch of the Toyota Corolla Cross in this market in July 2020, the C-HR has been quickly forgotten. In the remaining 5 short months of that year, the Toyota Corolla Cross sold 12,945 cars compared to 3,381 C-HR cars in the same period.

Since then, Toyota Thailand has discontinued regular gasoline engines and also stopped accepting new orders in early 2023. By June, they completed handing over the remaining orders.

The second generation Toyota C-HR, due to be launched in June 2023, was not initially considered bad.

The car’s design has been improved over the previous generation, making it more intuitive and less confusing overall. Details that were used for emphasis but were impractical have also been removed, such as the door handles being moved from column C (a position where it is difficult for children to reach) to door level.

The interior of the new generation Toyota C-HR is more modern than ever. High-end versions feature two larger 12.3-inch screens, with the standard version using an 8-inch central screen.

The number of external options for the car is also countless, such as digital keying using a smartphone, remote parking assistance without the need for the user sitting in the car to operate, or cruise control that automatically follows the car in front.

However, the biggest highlight of the new Toyota C-HR is the transmission array located under the hood where the plug-in hybrid powertrain appears for the first time. The 2.0 liter gasoline engine, combined with the electric motor, has a total output of 223 horsepower and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.3 seconds. This stylish SUV can run 66 km without fuel.

The following versions running assisted hybrid engines include the lowest 1.8L version with 138 horsepower and the 2.0L version with 194 horsepower.

Even with the above valuable changes, the Toyota Corolla Cross’s position in this segment is still very good, the company is unlikely to bring back the “Trade On” name. Even if it were possible to assemble the C-HR domestically (the older generation of the car was assembled in Chachoengsao, Thailand), it would still be a huge waste.

If there is no supply in Thailand, it is almost 100% certain that the Toyota C-HR, if present in Vietnam, will have to be imported from European or Japanese versions. This factor will raise the price of the car to the same level as a similar sized luxury car.