Blade or Venza in 2008?

I have recently seen mentions of the upcoming model, the Venza, coming
out in late 2008.
However, I have seen few mentions of the previously mentioned model,
The Blade.
I thought the Blade was supposed to replace the Matrix at some point.
When I last looked, The Blade was not mentioned on the official Toyota
web-site, nor has it ever been, to my knowledge. But they do now
mention the Venza. Did Toyota decide against the Blade?
Or is it the same vehicle as the Venza, only called the Venza in the
USA?
The Venza looks really cool! I am going to be buying a new vehicle in
the coming months and I would really consider the Venza.
Anyway,could someone please clarify this for me?
Thanks in advance!

Darren

"Darren" <darrenli516.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:26d0695b-eef0-49b0-93c1-a5d7d5fe6ce7@v46g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
>I have recently seen mentions of the upcoming model, the Venza, coming
> out in late 2008.
> However, I have seen few mentions of the previously mentioned model,
> The Blade.
> I thought the Blade was supposed to replace the Matrix at some point.
> When I last looked, The Blade was not mentioned on the official Toyota
> web-site, nor has it ever been, to my knowledge. But they do now
> mention the Venza. Did Toyota decide against the Blade?
> Or is it the same vehicle as the Venza, only called the Venza in the
> USA?
> The Venza looks really cool! I am going to be buying a new vehicle in
> the coming months and I would really consider the Venza.
> Anyway,could someone please clarify this for me?
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Darren

It looks like the Blade and the Matrix are based on the same Corolla
chassis, while the Venza appears to be based on the larger
Camry/Solara/Highlander chassis. The Blade has different sheet metal from
the Matrix sold in the U.S.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)