Hybrid, EV versions of Toyota HiLux, LandCruiser, Prado still years away

Toyota is still years away from electrifying its heavy-duty off-roaders and workhorse HiLux ute – but they are still coming.

Despite increasing interest in plug-in hybrids that can venture off-road while allowing for EV-only running, as well as the imminent arrival of battery-electric utes, Toyota says electrified versions of its HiLux, LandCruiser and Prado are still on track for later in the decade rather than anytime in the short term.

That would usher them in towards the stricter emissions regulations as part of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard that kicks in on July 1 but gets progressively tougher to meet through until 2029.

Toyota Australia Senior Executive President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley, reaffirmed Toyota’s commitment to electrified four-wheel drives but said they would arrive much closer to 2030 than anytime soon.

“The transition to these technologies is by no means as quick as what some commentators would have you believe,” said Hanley in defending how long it’s taking Toyota to electrify the likes of the LandCruiser and HiLux.

“BEVs [battery-electric vehicles] have not accelerated anywhere near the take-up rate that people thought they would.”

Many Toyota SUVs and passenger cars – including the Yaris, Corolla, Camry, Yaris Cross, Corolla Cross, C-HR, RAV4 and Kluger – are now hybrid only and demand for some is stronger than ever.

But getting electrified tech into cars designed to cope with some of the most punishing terrain on Earth has engineering challenges that Toyota is clearly keen to ensure are properly addressed.

And given the recent slowdown in EV demand, Hanley believes Toyota’s eventual move into electrified off-roaders will be perfectly timed.

“I don’t see us missing the boat at all,” he said of the forecast late-decade arrival. “Our timing will be impeccably right.”

Already Toyota is testing electric HiLuxes in mines in Western Australia.

And Toyota has already dabbled in electrified tech in some of the current production versions of its off-road models.

The latest Prado and some versions of the HiLux use a 48-volt assistance system – effectively a mild hybrid system (not that you’ll see Toyota use the ‘H’ word to describe them – for very minor fuel savings in stop-start driving.

And the Tundra large pick-up truck is a full hybrid, albeit one focused on performance over fuel savings.

But there’s a lot more coming, as Hanley reaffirmed.

“The vast majority of our cars by the end of this decade will have some form of electrification,” said Hanley. “When we talk about electrification, we talk about multi technologies, not just full BEV.”

Despite a minimal presence with the slow-selling bZ4X all-electric mid-sized SUV, Hanley said there was plenty more coming.

“I still believe that BEVs will represent somewhere around 30 per cent [of the market] – maybe more – by 2030.

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