The Toyota Avensis is not the brand’s only model that gets a facelift for the Geneva Motor Show, with the automaker announcing a similar makeover for the Auris C-segment vehicle.

Both the Auris Hatchback and the Auris Touring Sports get a revised front end, an upgraded cabin, as well as new comfort and safety features. The front end sports the most obvious changes, with the reshaped headlights and bumper giving the car a more aggressive look.

Toyota didn’t get into details about the interior, but the photo depicting the cabin allows us to spot new infotainment and air conditioning systems. As for the engine lineup, Toyota said the facelifted Auris “heralds the arrival of a new petrol and diesel line-up, focusing on efficiency and performance.”

The Auris Hybrid will continue to be offered, as it has become the single most important powertrain in the lineup, accounting for half of all Auris sales in 2014. The facelifted Auris and Avensis will be built side by side in Toyota’s manufacturing plant in Burnaston, UK.

We’ll get more details about the refreshed Auris family on March 3, when it will be officially unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.

The Auris, Toyota’s answer to the VW Golf and Ford Focus, is finally starting to catch up to the leading pack as it receives its first downsized turbocharged petrol power plant. It’s a 1.2-liter unit and it’s part of a 14-strong new engine offensive planned by Toyota over the course of 2014 and 2015.

The engine is direct-injected and intelligent variable valve timing, as well. Power wise, it’s average in the sector of turbocharged 1.2s, putting out 115 hp but its torque figure is excellent, at 185 Nm; what’s more impressive is that the latter is delivered linearly between 1,500 and 4,000 where the torque curve is not a curve, but a straight line.

Equipping the Auris, the engine is capable of pushing it to 100 km/h or 62 mph in 10.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 200 km/h or 125 mph. Efficiency and emissions are also competitive: 4.7 l/100 km average (60 mpg UK / 50 mpg US).

It’s interesting to note that using the intelligent variable valve timing, the engine can decide to run in Otto or Atkinson cycles; as the manufacturer explains, “the latter is used in extremely low load conditions, when the intake valve remains open for a fraction of time, after the compression stroke has set in, allowing part of the gas charge to be pushed back into the intake. As a result, the effective compression stroke is shortened. Pumping losses are reduced, since the pressure on the piston is lower, and also the throttle valve can be opened wider.”

The refreshed Toyota Auris just debuted at the Geneva motor show, with a fresh face matching the rest of the range, this new turbo engine and several mechanical and interior enhancements too.