SUVs — the future of touring car racing?

Touring car racing is one of the major motorsport categories where manufacturers build racing cars based on market-relevant models — that is, cars you can buy, park outside your home, drive around in —all with some useful extras like Bluetooth, DAB, cruise control, air conditioning, and three or more extra seats — but without some of the other perks like 400bhp engines, performance brakes, or MoTeC ECUs and data loggers.

In December 2023, the Stock Car Pro Series — Brazil’s leading tin-top category, has confirmed it’ll make a switch from its current model duo, the Toyota Corolla sedan and Chevrolet Cruze, to the Toyota Corolla Cross and Chevrolet Tracker in 2025.

The Cruze itself is in its second generation, but only available in South America, with sales of the model in Asia and North America having stopped some time ago. The model is now fairly old, having replaced the first-generation Cruze (which of course most of us know from its WTCC/BTCC days) nearly ten years ago.

The Corolla meanwhile is one of the most sold cars in the world, though the sedan is only available in certain markets. Europeans tend to favour the hatchback variant, though European tastes are also moving much more towards SUVs these days.

Of course it’s not just Europe, the trend away from saloons, then to hatches to SUVs is…