Next Toyota Prado may pack twin-turbo diesel power

The next-generation Toyota Prado will bring a new twin-turbo 2.8-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, a new GR Sport variant and eventually a hybrid powertrain option, according to Japan’s Best Car website, which also created the new rendering you see here.

But as we reported in March, when our sources said the new Toyota Prado was “at least more than two years away”, the replacement for Australia’s top-selling large SUV is unlikely to arrive here until 2024.

That will make the current Toyota LandCruiser Prado 150 Series, which was launched way back in 2009, 15 years old by the time it hits Australia, where the Prado remains a vitally important model for Toyota.

Prado sales are booming Down Under, where more than 18,000 were sold last year (more than double its nearest competitor, Toyota’s own Kluger) and sales are up more than 20 per cent so far in 2021.

A new-generation Toyota Prado was originally scheduled to debut by late 2022 – about 12 months after the new LandCruiser 300 Series – before arriving in Australia in 2023.

That timing has slipped back about a year, as we reported three months ago and as sources have now confirmed to Best Car, which says the Prado’s global launch will now be delayed until August or September 2023 due to strong sales of the existing model and development of a slew of new models for the Japanese domestic market.

Whenever it’s released, the new Toyota Prado will borrow heavily from the 300 Series, including a variation of its stronger but lighter new TNGA-F steel ladder frame, which will also underpin the new Lexus LX and the next Toyota HiLux, Fortuner, Tundra and perhaps even a new 70 Series LandCruiser.

Best Car says the next Toyota Prado will also bring a new GR Sport variant – as will the 300 Series and, within months, the HiLux ute – as well as a host of LC300-sourced technologies, perhaps including a tablet-style 12.3-inch infotainment touch-screen, a stop/start button with fingerprint reader and all of the new LandCruiser’s new safety and driver-assist functions.

According to Best Car, the next Prado – again like the bigger LandCruiser – will be offered in new GR Sport form, potentially bringing a shorter front bumper with blacked-out, GR-badged grille, all-terrain tyres and bespoke interior additions.

Best Car also says the 2024 Toyota Prado will be around the same size as the current model at 4825mm long, 1885mm wide and 1835mm high, although the wheelbase will grow by 50mm, liberating more legroom, and its exterior will borrow LC300 design cues like slimmer headlights and squarer wheel-arches.

Perhaps the biggest news will be under the bonnet, however. While nobody expects the new Prado to adopt six-cylinder power from its bigger brother, Best Car insists it will debut a new four-cylinder 2.8-litre twin-turbo ‘clean diesel’ engine mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission.

If that eventuates, expect outputs to improve significantly over the current model, which last year was upgraded to offer 150kW of power and 500Nm of torque.

Given the current HiLux and Fortuner share the same 2.8-litre turbo-diesel, if Best Car’s report hasn’t been lost in translation you can expect the replacements for both those models to come with the same new twin-turbo engine.

As we’ve reported, top-spec GR-badged versions of the next HiLux are expected to inherit the LandCruiser’s new 227kW/700Nm twin-turbo 3.3-litre diesel V6 in order to take on oil-burning V6-powered flagships of the all-new Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok in coming years.

But while the new Prado will likely remain a four-cylinder-only model, overseas markets will reportedly be offered a 2.7-litre petrol engine with six-speed auto, and Toyota will eventually produce a hybrid version most likely fitted with a 2.5-litre petrol-electric powertrain.

Watch this space.

Digital image: Best Car