The Toyota C-HR hybrid C-class is one of the most striking concept cars at the Paris Motor Show.
The Japanese car-maker's bold styling was turning heads and this is precisely what its designer Lance Scott was hoping for.
"We really wanted to show something very dynamic and very emotional in the segment. So basically we wanted to show a strong solid stance to a car, something really dynamic, something very expressive for the segment," he says.
Scott describes the fictional guy the designers were aiming to please.
"It is for a male consumer but someone who has a really kind of work hard, play hard lifestyle. We coined the phrase Valentino, It is a guy who really has an active lifestyle, he works hard and he wants to enjoy life. He wants a car that is really going to match to his lifestyle. He wants a car that he can drive to work in. Do all the things he has to do during the day, but when he goes out at night he can pull up to a nightclub and people will turn their heads and say 'wow - this guy has a great car."
But not every journalist is convinced by the car's looks.
Mark Vaughn, West Coast editor of Autoweek automobile magazine says: "This is an imagination, an idea of what the future of a C-class hybrid could be. It's very practical but the exterior is kind of wacky, kind of goofy, kind of I wouldn't buy it! But that's what you do with concepts, you really go, you push the edge and see where it goes and see how people like it."
Small SUVs, also known as crossovers, are the fastest-growing segment of the market in the U.S. while in Europe sales are expected to grow 40 percent this year after doubling in 2014 according to IHS Automotive.
The cars are built largely on car underpinnings so they manoeuvre like a car while getting gas mileage that's almost as good, and customers like the visibility provided by the high seating position.
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