Toyota today launched an all-new utility vehicle for the 2009 model year the Venza. The Japanese automaker refers to the car as a “crossover sedan,” which seems like an effort to avoid the use of “station wagon” at all costs. Toyota came up with the designation because the Venza combines “comfort and fun-to-drive performance elements of a five-passenger sedan” with the “utility of an SUV.”
The crossover was designed specifically with the North American market in mind. The Venza will be sold here exclusively, and it was engineered at the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor. The exterior was penned at the Toyota’s Calty design studios in Newport Beach.