I don't think it's selling well. The Carina grew into the Avensis, just as the Cortina grew into the Mondeo, and these are big cars. And big cars from non-premium brands (sorry, Toyota) will never sell well again - the last ones that did were the Granada and to a lesser extent the Carlton and Senator.

Big cars are mostly bought by fleet managers who can get good leasing deals on the German marques - and the sales reps can make do with Focuses, Astras or perhaps Aurises.

The current Avensis is nearing the end of its life - now five years old. In 2015, Toyota will be introducing a crossover vehicle to compete with the likes of the Qashqai, etc - so perhaps they will replace the European Avensis production with the crossover, which is what Nissan partly did with the Qashqai (replacing the Almera and Primera), as this market sector is growing rather than contracting.

It may make more sense for Toyota to import the similar-sized Camry or Aurion as a replacement for the Avensis - of which there are already hybrid versions in production.

The "family car" has been replaced by crossovers and soft-roaders. The usual rep mobiles aside mid-sized saloons are a dying sector.