New 2013 Toyota Verso

New 2013 Toyota Verso

The next generation of the Auris five-door hatchback in both regular and hybrid trims won't be alone at Toyota's Paris Motor Show stand as the automaker announced today that it will also introduce the station wagon and minivan variants of the new Auris family.

The estate model will be called Auris Tourer, or in some markets such as Germany, Auris Combi. This is the first time that Toyota has offered a station wagon body style to the Auris range.

It will launch together with the hatchback model with which it will share its entire engine range including, a 1.4-liter turbo diesel, 1.33-liter and 1.6-litre petrols and in a first for a C-segment estate model, a hybrid powertrain.

The latter uses the same setup as the Prius combining a 1.8-liter Atkinson cycle four cylinder gasoline to an electric motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery.

The Auris Touring is an important addition to Toyota's European lineup as station wagons account for around 25 percent of all compact / C-segment model sales in the region.

The third addition to the Auris family is the revamped 2013 Verso people carrier. From what we understand, this is a heavy facelift of the current model. As such, the compact minivan adopts Toyota’s new design language featuring the same, sharper front end styling, while the company notes that the interior has been upgraded as well.

Toyota pointed out that it has also re-engineered the Verso's 2.0-liter D-4D diesel engine "to give stronger performance with lower CO2 emissions", and its chassis to improve handling.

Visitors to Toyota's booth in Paris will also be able to see the 2013 Yaris Trend special edition that was recently announced for the UK market, a new line of TRD Performance accessories for the GT 86 Coupe, the Toyota Racing TS030 Hybrid WEC race car and the FCV-R fuel cell vehicle.