Toyota: new wagon fills a need

The new Toyota Avensis station wagon, the load-carrying variant of the sedan that earned a top five-star crash-test rating in Europe, will join the carmaker's passenger vehicle range in New Zealand in a couple of months.

At the moment, Toyota plans only to import the wagon. It is understood it might look at the Avensis sedan at a later date.

Toyota New Zealand product manager Spencer Morris said customers had been requesting a replacement for the discontinued medium-sized Camry wagon and the Avensis would fulfil this need.

"It is the first time that we have imported vehicles from Europe and we are sure the new models will be well received," he said.

The new model is also expected to fill the void left in the late 1990s by the disappearance from the New Zealand market of the best-selling Corona wagon.

Toyota's second-hand Signature operation has since done brisk business bringing in used Caldina wagons, the Japanese domestic version of the Corona.

Three versions of the European Avensis will be available here and Toyota expects each model to appeal to both private and fleet buyers.

The wagon, styled and developed at the Toyota design centre in the south of France, is being built at the Toyota plant at Burnaston, near Derby, in Britain.

Morris said the price of the Avensis wagon would be "competitive." It is expected to start in price in the early 30K region and be well equipped.

The Avensis sedan was the first car to be awarded the European New Car Assessment Programme's maximum five stars under a tougher new testing regime. The tougher tests now include more accurate measurement of pedal movement and the use of an even more sensitive side impact dummy to predict more accurately the potential injury risk resulting from the crash.

"We are very proud that Euro NCAP has recognised that the new Avensis sets a new benchmark for safety with a record score," said Graham Smith, managing director of Toyota Great Britain.

The British-spec model has nine airbags, including a knee airbag. In addition to standard anti-lock brakes, all 2.0-litre petrol models in Britain come with traction and stability control systems.

Toyota says the Avensis is the first model in the world to be offered with an engine range fully compliant with strict Euro IV emissions regulations.

Two petrol engines available at launch 1.8-litre VVT-i and 2.0-litre direct injection

Double-wishbone-type rear suspension derived from Celica sports coupe offers excellent handling performanceThe 129bhp 1.8-litre VVT-i and 147bhp 2.0-litre direct injection petrol engines are developments of units which appeared in the previous generation Avensis, now offering lower CO2 emissions levels.