It’s not supposed to be shown until its reveal in Japan next month, but that leaky, leaky internet has dripped out pictures of Toyota’s new Daihatsu Rocky-based small SUV, the 2020 Toyota Raize. It’s based on Daihatsu’s version of Toyota’s modular platform (DNGA instead of TNGA and I bet you can figure out what the initials mean) and, being small but useful, it’s not going to be sold here in America.
The name “Raize” is also the Latvian word for worries or concerns, though I suspect that’s not what Toyota’s brand people had in mind.
The little SUV is very close to the Daihatsu Rocky just shown at the Tokyo Motor Show, and appears to share almost all body panels save for the front and rear fascias, lights, and other easily-swapped styling details.
The Raize also shares the Rocky’s one-litre three-banger with four valves per cylinder making a really quite respectable 98 horsepower and 103 pound-feet of torque. The engine can be bolted to a CVT or, another reminder that it’s not headed for America, a six-speed manual.
The design of the Raize fits into Toyota’s current overdone, over-grilled, over-folded, and over-creased design language pretty seamlessly, with what appears to be a mostly fake grille and lots of lights.
It’s better in profile, and leaked images appear to show a variety of option packages, including a pretty sharp-looking TRD setup and some that are described as having an “advance blast style” and “elegant ice style.”
If the price listed on the leaked documents, 2,060,000 yen is correct, that comes to be about $27,500, a pretty good price. It also looks like it comes with blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping assist, and forward collision alert, based on the pictures there.
A small, manual, 4WD SUV with all the modern toys for under $30 grand sure sounds good, and would make a nice alternative to unsatisfying cars like the Ford Ecosport, but, well, too bad for us.