The Toyota Dear (as in ‘dear uncle Bart’) concept cars debuted at the Beijing Auto Show. There were two: a sedan and a hatchback, both designed by Toyota’s Chinese design center near Shanghai. The Dears preview a new compact for young first-car buyers.

Toyota said the Dears were hybrids, which is auto show crap talk because there is nothing under the bonnet and because a hybrid would be far too expensive for the average Chinese first-car buyer. The Dears are expected, likely so with patrol engines, to hit the Chinese market in late 2013.

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