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Toyota Releases First TRD Branded Performance Vehicles (Aurion & Hilux)

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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 04:31 PM
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Default Toyota Releases First TRD Branded Performance Vehicles (Aurion & Hilux)

http://www.autospies.com/news/Toyota...nce-Car-13065/














Racing Development has been prepping Toyota’s race cars as well as its street cars for years. Designing and building TRD branded go-fast bits for cars such as the Supra or Celica. However, Toyota has never officially released a vehicle branded under the TRD label. This is set to change with the introduction of the Aurion TRD, which was unveiled yesterday at the Melbourne International Motor Show in Australia. The first time anywhere in the world Toyota is engineering and marketing a car under the TRD banner.

TRD didn't just show off its new Corolla-based rally car at the Melbourne Motor Show. The Aussie wing of Toyota's factory motorsports arm also pulled the sheets off a new production car, the TRD Aurion, and a near-production-looking concept in the TRD HiLux pickup. The emergence of the special Aurion represents the world debut of TRD as a vehicle brand, opening the door for TRD versions of just about anything the automaker sets its mind to.

The TRD Aurion doesn't play around, either. This better-looking (much better looking in fact) Aussie version of the Camry gets a blown 3.5L V6 good for at least 320 horsepower. Some of you will notice that the TRD production car is essentially a dead ringer for the Aurion Sports Concept (gallery) that made its debut at the Sydney Motor Show back in October. We think the production car looks better, with less grey in the nose and much nicer-looking wheels. Sadly, Toyota thinks that the Camry has to look boring in our market. Come on guys, this look and the supercharged engine would go a long way towards making people think of the car as something other than an inoffensive, boring appliance.

Joining the TRD Aurion at the Toyota Stand is a TRD HiLux concept pickup. The four-door short-bed truck sports TRD graphics, a black roll bar, and a supercharged 4.0L V6. No power numbers were given. TRD only says that HiLux concept's engine is good for "substantially more" than the 234 horses the standard HiLux produces. If we had to guess, we'd say that our friends in Oz can look for the "concept" part of the HiLux's name to be dropped in the future.
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 05:33 PM
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Damn Aussies! Not only their Camry looks 100000x better than it's US counterpart, but they also get a Camry that can embarass many sports cars.
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 05:34 PM
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This is the regular, non-TRD Aurion





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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 06:11 PM
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Amazing... the standard Aurion looks halfway decent. h:
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 06:22 PM
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so this means that they are going to finally supercharge the 3.5 found in the Taco?

fucking hell yes. this will be my next vehicle.
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 06:42 PM
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Originally Posted by sherwood
so this means that they are going to finally supercharge the 3.5 found in the Taco?

fucking hell yes. this will be my next vehicle.
Actually, I remember reading about a Tacoma X-Runner development mule with a prototype blower. So I'd say the odds are good.. :dunno:

As far as that blown 2GR-FE... since the Camry is so overwrought, I'd like to see in the ES350. :rick:
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 06:51 PM
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Originally Posted by TheOtherDave™
Actually, I remember reading about a Tacoma X-Runner development mule with a prototype blower. So I'd say the odds are good.. :dunno:

As far as that blown 2GR-FE... since the Camry is so overwrought, I'd like to see in the ES350. :rick:
they were supposed to but then TRD said it wasn't happening because of the high compression ratio...

personally i'd rather see it as an upgrade to the IS350 as a middle ground to keep up with the new turbo-BMW's
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 07:00 PM
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if they brought that aurion here... id buy it
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 07:02 PM
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I'd trade the Corolla for those :hs:
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Old Mar 2, 2007 | 07:53 PM
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Originally Posted by RicoD
I'd trade the Corolla for those :hs:
well, we do have the x-runner. (the hilux and the taco are the same truck)

granted there isn't a SC version in the US...
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