KEY POINTS:
If there is something significant about the name Aurion, Toyota New Zealand isn't saying.
The company's new large car gets its name from the Greek word meaning "tomorrow".
Nothing unusual there, Toyota likes playing games with names. Take its small car Yaris. One theory has it that the
name is a combination of the German word "ja," for "yes", with the Greek goddess "Charis", who symbolised grace and elegance. The designer for the Yaris is Greek, too.
Another is that Yaris was a minor league Greek god, sort of an entry-level player.
Whatever, Yaris is perhaps more suitable than Echo, the previous name for the car in New Zealand. Echo was a Greek nymph whose unrequited love for Narcissus - the bloke who liked looking at himself - caused her to pine away until nothing but her voice remained.
Maybe that's why Toyota dropped the Echo name. How about the names of other Toyota models? Avalon is a mythical place, Corolla is part of a flower, Camry comes from the Japanese word for "crown". Prado is Spanish for "meadow" - where there is room for four-wheel-drives.
But Aurion? And "tomorrow?" The theory is that Toyota NZ timed the launch of the sedan to coincide with its 40th birthday this month - and its best sales year since 1991.
That way company executives can kick up their pre-Christmas heels and celebrate the past 11 or so months and two kinds of "tomorrow" - the car and the future.
The future is assured, at least from Toyota's point of view. It will continue to grow and will surely within the next year or so take over from General Motors as the world's largest carmaker.
The Aurion's future isn't nearly as defined. Steve Pragnell, Toyota NZ general manager of new vehicles, reckons it will reinvigorate the large-car market, down almost 20 per cent this year because of higher pump prices.
He says it's more powerful but uses less fuel than its six-cylinder Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon rivals.
He expects it to attract both fleet and private buyers. "Its size and advanced technology, which includes six-speed automatic transmission and stability control on all models, will appeal to those wanting a sophisticated big car," he said.
But Toyota's last big car was a sales flop. There was nothing mythical about the Avalon. It was more of a mystery.
Can Aurion reverse the trend? It looks better and bolder than the Avalon. It is built at Toyota's plant in Melbourne and has received much praise from Australian analysts.
Pragnell says Australian sales are strong. So are export orders, including the Middle East. "This could mean that Toyota New Zealand's biggest challenge would be to be able to access sufficient stock to satisfy demand," he says."
Is an escape clause hidden in there somewhere, in case the car isn't as successful as the company hopes?
The front-drive Aurion is available in four versions - AT-X, Sportivo SX6, Touring and the top-of-the-range Grande. Prices range from $41,990 to $55,850.
Each model is powered by a 3.5-litre V6 engine producing 204kW (275bhp) at 6200rpm and 346Nm of torque at 4700rpm. That's using 95-octane petrol. Output drops off a bit with 91-octane petrol. Exhaust emissions meet Euro IV standards.
Toyota says official Australian tests show Aurion using 9.9 litres/100km, or 28.5mpg. The same test standard has the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon using around 11 litres/100km, give or take a drop or two.
The V6 is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with manual mode. The transmission uses artificial intelligence to adapt shift points to the driver's style and road conditions, like most other big-engine automatics these days.
Safety equipment includes eight airbags and stability control. Standard equipment includes all sorts of goodies.
The top-range Grande also has rain-sensing windscreen wipers and headlights that "see" around corners.
If only they could tell what was coming in terms of Aurion sales.