Toyota has long been an import brand near and dear to our hearts.  Growing up as kids in the 90’s we were naturally drawn to the powerhouse imports such as the Acura NSX, Mazda RX-7, Nissan Skyline and who could forget the iron block titan, the Toyota Supra.  Like all brands, Toyota has had changes in their company direction in the past two decades, but performance has always remained at the heart of the company.  That’s why when they contacted us to potentially work with them on an all new chassis, we jumped at the opportunity.  Enter the Toyota C-HR, an acronym for Coupe – High Rider.

It’s no secret that CUV’s have been the rage of the auto industry.  Even conventional sports car brands such as Porsche have jumped into the market chasing the trend.  It’s no wonder why this market emerged, people want a practical car with good storage that handles and gets the gas mileage of a car.  So what makes the Toyota C-HR different?  Well, first it has aggressive styling, something that is refreshing in a vehicle category that often lacks flare.  The rear door has a small window that almost resembles the rear quarter window of a coupe, despite the car having 4 doors.  While at first glance this might seem like a mistake, this was exactly the look Toyota was going for. They built a 4 door practical car with the styling of a coupe. (Yes, the rear window goes up and down and the rear door armrests even have convenient cup holders!)  But what really makes this car fun is the handling.  Taking years of racing experience and engineering into account, Toyota fine tuned the handling of the C-HR on the legendary Nurburgring racetrack.  The result is a car that feels flat in corners and razor sharp on turn in.  Performance from a horsepower standpoint can be a bit lacking, but for a car that starts priced at $22,500, it’s a well balanced package for young adults.  Toyota asked us to build a street version of the C-HR that would accentuate the handling capabilities of the vehicle.  In the next few months we will be working with aftermarket manufacturers to bring this project to life.  Brands such as Nitto Tire, Volk Racing, Apex’i, AP Racing, and Six Sigma Autodesign will be contributing to the build and shops such as Autofashion USA and iDL Design will be helping us execute the concept.  We will be documenting the process here on Fatlace.com, until then, enjoy our rendering below! (Also be sure to follow @SSA_USA on Instagram for social media updates of the build)

IMG | RC