Toyota Stout could return as sub-HiLux compact ute

The motoring world has been sent into a frenzy with reports out of Argentina suggesting Toyota could be about to enter the compact ute segment with a reborn Toyota Stout.

The intel comes from a recent report by Argentinian outlet AutoWeb following the local trademarking of the classic nameplate that has never been offered in that market, leading many to assume it’s being prepared for a new model.

We already know Toyota is considering a move into the niche compact dual-cab ute segment that’s continuing to find traction in both South and North America, as evidenced by the success of the Dacia Oroch, Fiat Strada, Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz, and the securing of a new nameplate in any market is always worth looking into a little deeper.

Doing so reveals the Toyota has held the rights to the ‘Toyota Stout’ nameplate in Australia since the mid-1960s. It was most recently renewed in February 2019, extending the Japanese brand’s local ownership of the name until at least 2029.

Details are unsurprisingly thin on the ground given such a model is yet to be confirmed or revealed, but Toyota North America product planning and strategy vice-president Cooper Ericksen has previously indicated that both a shrunken ladder-frame chassis and monocoque platform are being considered and that market demand would be the deciding factor.

“If there’s a customer that needs a rugged, smaller body-on-frame vehicle, we can consider that, but if it's more for urban use and less extreme off-road, then it would make more sense to use the TNGA unibody platform,” he said in an interview with MotorTrend in June.

Both the aforementioned Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz ride on passenger car or SUV architectures – Ford C2 and Hyundai-Kia N3 respectively – rather than the body-on-frame set-up traditionally favoured by Australia’s most popular utes including the mid-size HiLux and Ford Ranger.

Both models (Maverick and Santa Fe) have thus far been ruled out for Australia due the lack of right-hand drive production, but that hasn’t stopped the local Ford and Hyundai divisions putting their hands up for our market, and a delay in securing them here could provide Toyota with the perfect opportunity to leapfrog them by becoming the first to offer a compact ute Down Under.

In the same June interview, Toyota North America sales executive vice-president Bob Carter told MotorTrend nothing of the sort was in the pipeline for the 2023 model year, but hinted that an announcement or some other contextual development could come to light at the 2023 HQ Confidential 3 media conference, presently scheduled for June next year.

Toyota’s North American activities have rarely impacted the Australian market, so it could be quite a bit longer before we hear anything official in relation to the Stout for our market – if ever.

But there’s little doubt that a Toyota-branded compact ute would sell well here… especially if it incorporated a hybrid powertrain and all-wheel drive for an affordable price, as per Australia’s top-selling SUV, the Toyota RAV4.

Originally based on the Toyota Dyna truck and produced in Japan between 1954 and 1989, the Stout was sold across three generations and positioned in Australia as a heavier-duty alternative to the HiLux during the 1960s and 1970s.

However, if the Stout was reborn as a compact ute and sold here – and Toyota signs off on its local right-hand drive Tundra pick-up development program – it would give the Australian market leader three distinct ute model lines.

This would include small and large dual-cabs to straddle Australia’s most popular new vehicle, as Toyota prepares a new HiLux to battle the fresh Ford Ranger and upcoming rivals from Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia.

Pictured: 2021 Toyota Pickup EV concept.

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