Toyota Prado Hybrid still lacks towing muscle for Australia 

An inadequate towing capability continues to get in the way of Toyota Australia’s plans to hybridise its popular Prado offroad SUV – but will Australian Prado buyers miss it?

When Toyota talks about its hybrid powertrains, the company is really talking about two different kinds of hybrids.

The kind most will be familiar with are its ‘Efficiency Hybrids’ – petrol-electric powertrains whose single focus is to move metal using as little fuel as possible.

The second, less common, type is the ‘Performance Hybrid’, which uses electric assistance to maximise vehicle metrics like power, torque, and – critically for Australia – towing capacity. Fuel economy is secondary.

The first of the automaker’s Performance Hybrids arrived here in the form of the Tundra, while the second, the LandCruiser hybrid, transplants the Tundra’s 3.5-litre twin-turbo petrol-electric V6 into the 300 Series Toyota LandCruiser to create the most powerful ‘Cruiser to emerge from Toyota’s factory.

At one point there was a plan for the third Performance Hybrid to be the 250 Series Prado, but while Americans already enjoy a such a thing, its lacklustre towing ability (and unavailability of RHD production) means it continues to be out of reach for Aussies.

“It’s a good engine, and for the application it’s in, it’s fine – but to bring it for the application that we want may not necessarily fit the needs of the [Australian] customer,” Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley said at a preview event for the 300 Series Toyota LandCruiser Hybrid.

Its performance stats are solid: the US-spec Prado Hybrid (sold there as the LandCruiser) produces a combined 243kW/630Nm from a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol four cylinder and electric motor, with all the torque available from a diesel-like 1700rpm.

If you dangled those figures – which are 93kW/130Nm up on the local turbo-diesel Prado – in front of a prospective 250 Series customer, they might leap at the opportunity to get their hands on a far more muscular vehicle.

However, by Hanley’s reckoning, that other key performance metric – towing – may turn those same buyers off; the hybrid is only rated to tow 2722kg compared to the diesel’s 3500kg.

The idea of adding a hybrid Prado to local showrooms isn’t a new one – it’s been percolating at Toyota Australia’s head office for years now – but it sounds like whatever enthusiasm might have once existed has now run out, with no solution to the hybrid powertrain’s towing shortcomings.

“We have a good say [at Toyota global], we’re a big LandCruiser 300, Prado, LandCruiser 70 market, so we have a good say,” Hanley said.

“There’s lots of things we all want, but the practicality of getting all of those things quickly is not so practical – we’ve got to work within that balance. “Hybrid technology for Toyota is evolving every single day – whether it’s suitable for Prado, I don’t know. There’s nothing in the wings that I’m aware of.”

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