in other news... Next gen Tundra delayed... next Sienna still testing

https://www.motor1.com/news/391574/t...undra-delayed/

 

I wonder when the Venza is coming back. I think it may be a perfect vehicle for my Mom who currently owns a 2002 Highlander and is shopping for something new. She's looked at the new Highlander, the Santa Fe, and the CX-9, and will look at the Palisade. A lot of the new CUV's have higher ground-clearance than her Highlander and it strains her back getting in & out of those and she also has no use for the 3rd row and therefore the overall size of these new CUV's is too big for her comfort. I've always thought the Venza would be perfect for her but she doesn't want to buy used so it was never a contender.

 

Not surprised the Venza is coming back. Smart move!

 

I like that the Sienna will be a hybrid. If the current one had been offered as such, we probably would have purchased one as the hybrid is very important to my wife.

 

Agree. It's the station wagon formfactor that many buyers actually need, cleverly disguised as a crossover so they'll still consider it.

 

Nice catch there on the Venza re-appearing as a hybrid crossover. I'd put a 2022-23 date on it. I thought the Venza was an under-appreciated vehicle on the cusp of SUV status.

Did you know that Venza's original sizing meant it was not a 'SUV' and contributed to consumer confusion. Subaru's Outback is another vehicle that was not in the 'SUV' category, and somehow it has evolved into it and compliments the Forester in a distinct way today.

Killing off the Venza meant the only available SUV option beyond RAV4 was an RX (the front dash interior of Venza is comparable to 2015 and older RX). It is quite a shrewd strategy to maximize RX sales (at the cost of stopping Venza sales).

What does this mean for the long term? Will Lexus have a 'luxury' version of the Venza in their line up?

 

I totally agree - as crossovers became more and more popular in the last several years I kept wondering why Toyota pulled the plug on the Venza. I think they were just 1 or 2 years early in getting rid of it instead of keeping it and providing a facelift and interior upgrade. It's a good competitor to some Subaru products IMO.

 

Where would this thing even fit? Sub RAV4 in size? Above the RAV4? I'm confused by all of this. I can see this thing existing between the new HL and the RAV4, if the HL was a half size bigger.

 

They should have just kept the Venza if they were going to make the highlander a 7 passenger vehicle. The Venza and the old highlander were basically competing in the same segment before. Now, its too far of a jump from the Rav4 to the highlander. It needs to be the goldilocks size that the RX used to dominate in.

 

See my post earlier... To maximize SUV sales of the RX (which is a SUV exterior body on top of the Venza foundation) ! The sales between 2012-2019 allowed RX to become a money making cash cow, and help spawn the NX and UX vehicles.

 

the venza wasn't an rx though... it wasn't very spacious, it didn't drive that well, the interior wasn't great, and it wasn't priced competitively.

 

Great question. I think it's best to look to Subaru for an analogy... they have a Forester SUV product and an Outback. Both distinctly different shapes. the RAV4 is more like the Forester. Toyota does not have anything comparable to the Outback shape. Venza could fill that void. Not so sure if the naming makes sense. It's really a meaningless name in the realm of vehicle names. At least they will use something that they have the 'rights' to just like Honda did in reviving the "Passport".

 

check this link out...
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/autos/...edPowertrains=

Venza being 3 inches shorter than the RX killed it from being an official 'SUV'. Interior drive shift design is distinctively similar in both vehicles. Venza was a toyota product vs RX being a Lexus one. Of course, the RX turns out to be better driving, interior and more expensive by $10-15k. If you can get this kind of free money from the SUV craze with only 2-3k worth of enhancements and body reconfiguration, kudos to the execs and engineers to pull this off.

 

Wasn't the Venza mostly a hunchbacked Camry?

 

All this article says is that the Venza "nameplate" is being revived for a hybrid crossover. It doesn't say anything about whether it will be similar in size or layout to the old Venza.

Don't put your orders in just yet.