Toyota today revealed its answer to the booming performance-car market in the form of the supercharged Aurion TRD. The Aurion TRD is the most powerful Toyota ever sold in Australia and is designed to inject some much-needed excitement into the Toyota brand and bolster its position at the top of the sales charts. In unveiling the Aurion TRD (Toyota Racing Development) Toyota admits its brand has a bland image, especially since the demise of sports cars like the Celica and MR2.

“It wasn’t really surprising to learn that the Toyota brand was strong in terms of quality, durability, reliability, affordability, safety and the environment,” says Toyota Australia divisional manager of the product management division Peter McGregor. “But missing were attributes such as style, colour, the ability to turn heads, performance, vision and excitement.”

With a V8-like 241kW of power from its supercharged V6 and more aggressive styling, the Aurion TRD represents the pinnacle of Toyota performance and brings some excitement to a brand known for its conservatism.Indeed, the Aurion TRD appears to be an obvious competitor to performance versions of the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.

However, Toyota is adamant that despite a $56,990 starting price the Aurion TRD is not a match for Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) and Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV). Instead, Toyota is pitching the warmed-over Aurion at more “sophisticated” performance cars, such as the Volkswagen Golf R32 and Subaru Liberty GT. “Quite clearly we are not aiming for the tribalists (traditional Ford and Holden buyers) who will buy only the traditional locally produced performance sedans,” says Toyota Australia senior executive director of sales and marketing David Buttner. “Tribalists will not contemplate another brand as they aspire to own the latest version of the car their fathers own.”

Buttner also claims that sales of performance Holdens and Fords have grown only 20 per cent over the past decade while the overall performance enhancement market has almost doubled.

“We are targeting a sophisticated market with a quality product that provides balanced performance, handling and technology rather than focussing on outright brute performance.” Despite the bold talk, Toyota still clearly has the massive Ford, Holden, FPV and HSV market somewhere in its sights.

Buttner says the price, specification, value and performance of the TRD Aurion would position it against both local and imported competition. Marketing aside, the Aurion TRD has 202 unique components compared with the regular Aurions.

The TRD gets bigger, more powerful brakes, larger 19-inch alloy wheels and firmer suspension to keep it flatter in corners. There’s also styling changes to bumpers, inserts and the interior to give it a more special and aggressive flavour. Toyota says the look is designed to “stand out from the crowd without looking like a hoon”.

But the biggest change is under the bonnet, where a supercharger has been added to the Aurion’s 3.5-litre V6. Like all Aurions, the TRD is only available with a six-speed automatic transmission.

Power of the TRD Aurion jumps from 200kW to 241kW in the TRD versions.

That 241kW is much less than the 300-odd kilowatts produced by some V8-powered Australian muscle cars, but it’s a lot more than the Japanese and European competition Toyota has singled out.

Toyota claims the Aurion TRD accelerates to 100km/h from rest in 6.1 seconds, giving it the performance credentials to compete with the similarly-sized Falcons and Commodores Toyota says it is not targeting.

The Aurion TRD will be available in two specification levels; the 3500S ($56,990) and the better appointed 3500SL ($61,500).

The 3500S comes with a stability control system, six airbags, power windows, cruise control, power driver’s seat, foglights, alloy pedals, air-conditioning, trip computer and a six-disc CD player.

For the extra $4510 the 3500SL gets things like more leather trim, two power-operated front seats, parking sensors and climate control for the air-conditioning

Both cars get a more colourful interior with sports seats and other additions to give it a more contemporary feel.

The Aurion TRD is the start of a brand-building exercise Toyota first embarked on in 2002.

As well as a TRD version of the Hilux utility, Toyota says it is working on a family of TRD vehicles designed to inject some spark and excitement into the brand. At the media launch to the Aurion TRD in Tasmania, Toyota even managed a swipe at the locally-produced performance cars it says it will not compete with.

“I can tell you that a feasibility study is already underway for a third (TRD) model,” says McGregor. “We will develop a range of vehicles, not just variations on one locally produced car … there is no limitation to the donor vehicles available for our expansion.”

The next car to receive the TRD treatment will be the Hilux utility, which arrives in dealerships before the end of 2007.