After years of launching the design equivalent of Scud missiles, Toyota has finally managed to target, aim, and fire a much-needed design revolution into its miserable-looking lineup of vehicles. For too long, Toyota has populated freeways and highways with cars that, while efficient and price-competitive, were utterly uninspiring to look at. The recently revealed Toyota C-HR+ may have a name as uninspiring as the Toyota of old, but at least it adds a degree of sparkle to an otherwise bland and boring company—one more focused on meeting production targets than on offering a product of real interest.

Toyota, a magician with a trick up its sleeve that it rarely uses, has long relied on sleight of hand, preferring cheap, simple tricks to truly dazzling its easily fooled audience. With the reveal of the C-HR+, Toyota has finally decided to use that trick.

No Longer The Donkey

I once thought the striking new Prius was just a rare outlier, never to be repeated. However, the C-HR+, though not ultimately revolutionary, marks a shift away from Toyota’s tried-and-tested, often-revisited, conservative-parochial approach to everything it does.

The donkey is no longer being led by focus groups, overhyped marketing initiatives, or by a dead-and-dying executive committee. With the C-HR+, Toyota is freeing itself from its own self-imposed shackles.

The Toyota C-HR+ will go on sale later this year and will be offered with two battery sizes, with prices starting at £38,000 for the entry-level 250-mile low-range model and rising to £44,000 for the 300-mile long-range version.