Your questions answered: When will there be a Toyota HiLux hybrid?

The price of fuel is clearly continuing to bite, with this week’s carsales mailbox loaded with questions about hybrid cars and EVs.

The electric movement is undoubtedly gaining pace, all the way to the big hitters of the market such as the Toyota HiLux.

There are also valid questions this week about the availability of EVs – especially from big brands such as Toyota, Mazda, Subaru and Nissan – and how much it costs to replace the battery pack on an electric vehicle.

There’s plenty of interest in combustion-engined cars too, more towards the compact end of the SUV spectrum.

Plus we tackle questions on two soon-to-arrive newcomers: INEOS and Chery.

Question:

Answer: It does seem odd that the hybrid bug hasn’t infiltrated the ute market yet, especially as we buy so many of them (utes make up more than one in five new vehicle sales in Australia). But it partly comes down to what the market demands and/or requires.

A lot of people use utes for towing and hauling heavy things, and hybrid systems aren’t always best suited to that. Plus there’s the cost of adding a battery pack and electric motor/s when the market hasn’t really demanded that until recently.

That said, there’s a heap happening with more environmentally friendly utes. Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen and others have all committed to hybrid and/or electric utes. And LDV will soon begin selling the first EV ute in the country, the LDV eT60.

The aftermarket is also lining up to muscle into the action with EV conversions for Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger from the likes of Roev, SEA Electric and H2X (the latter a hydrogen fuel-cell EV).

So expect plenty of action over the next few years.

Some of that action could also come from Toyota. Reports from Japan this week suggested the all-new Prado (the first one since 2009) is due to be revealed in 2023. Those same reports – from Japanese media outlets that usually aren’t miles from the mark – suggest it will also arrive with a turbo-diesel hybrid system.

Okay, so that’s for the Prado, but keep in mind that the Prado uses the same engine as the HiLux (currently a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel). So it would be logical that if Toyota develops a hybrid system for the Prado then that same system would eventually end up in a HiLux.

There’s another piece to this puzzle: The current HiLux hit the market in 2015 and Toyota usually tries to eke at least 10 years out of its commercial vehicles and 4WDs. So an all-new HiLux could arrive as early as 2025.

It would seem to make more sense for Toyota to leave a major change such as a new engine or an EV system to a new model launch. In which case we’d expect to be waiting until at least 2025 until we saw a hybrid HiLux. And a full EV version would likely be further away.

Question: I’m looking at EV but have long been a Toyota driver and am keen to stay within the family. I would also consider other brands, although I’d prefer to stick to the Japanese ones, like Mazda and Subaru. But there doesn’t seem to be much on offer. I don’t want to try one of these newfangled brands that I know nothing about because I was burnt once in the past. – Rita L

Answer: As a generalisation, Japanese brands are trailing those from Europe, the United States, Korea and China when it comes to EVs.

Nissan is the most advanced, having had its LEAF EV available locally for a decade. But the Nissan EV we really want to see – the Nissan Ariya – is still some time away from making it here.

Mazda also offers an EV here – the Mazda MX-30 Electric – but it is overpriced and has a short driving range.

Toyota is the big one that appears to be missing the current EV surge. It doesn’t have a single rechargeable vehicle available in Australia. The first one is the Toyota bZ4X mid-size SUV and it’s almost a year away.

They are coming, but the more competitive Japanese EVs still seem to be a while away from making a significant sales dent on the Aussie market.

We’d also encourage you to spread your search to the Korean brands. The Kia EV6 is a mighty impressive vehicle, as is the Hyundai IONIQ 5, which was named 2021 carsales Car of the Year.

There’s also the Genesis GV60 – Genesis is the luxury brand of Hyundai – although that’s more expensive.

Question:

Answer: You’d be one of the few people that still remember Chery! The Chinese brand didn’t last long in Australia the first time around (it was sold here from 2011 to 2014) and the cars were very much sold on price rather than substance.

But the company has matured a lot over the past decade and is producing cars that – from a distance, at least – look a lot more convincing than those that arrived in the first run. This time around Chery is distributing the vehicles itself, rather than utilising an importer, something that often results bigger investments and bigger advertising budgets.

Ultimately it’s the cars that are the most important part and Chery is convinced the new models will be widely accepted, to the point where it’s targeting 70,000 annual sales within a few years (it would be an incredible feat if they got anywhere near that).

Don’t expect budget-priced models, though; sure, there will be an emphasis on value, but it appears Chery wants to fight with the big boys pretty much from day one.

Again, it’ll be the products that determine if that will happen. If they’re amazing vehicles, then people may start sticking them on their shopping list. But with a new brand (again, not many remember Chery) it can also take years – or decades – to earn people’s trust.

We’ll know a lot more when we get behind the wheel of the Chery Omoda 5 soon.

Question:

Answer: If you’ve ever watched Formula 1 you may have noticed the INEOS brand plastered across the back of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes-Benz. INEOS, which is best known for chemicals, owns one-third of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team.

But some of its executives are also 4WD enthusiasts and years ago concocted a plan to create an off-roader that would effectively keep the spirit of the original Land Rover burning as the new Defender went upmarket. The plan was hatched in a pub called the Grenadier, which made choosing the name of the car that little bit easier!

So the company has serious 4WD passion and plenty of money behind it. It’s also buying engines from BMW, providing under-bonnet pedigree and saving a billion (or two) in development costs.

But the big focus with the Grenadier is off-road performance and reliability, the latter something that can’t really be proven until we’ve had plenty on the road for at least a few years.

All of which adds up to a car that’s had plenty of interest, no doubt partly because it looks cool.

So there are wait lists and they’re currently stretching around eight or nine months – until July or August 2023 at this point.

Question:

Answer: Batteries are the expensive and complex component of an EV. It’s where a lot of the production and development budget goes into the car. That’s also the reason the high-voltage battery packs in an electric vehicle come with a separate warranty that usually outlasts the warranty of the rest of the vehicle (most cover at least eight years and 160,000km).

It’s difficult to get battery replacement costs, mainly because almost all the EVs on the road are still covered by the factory warranty – but also because manufacturers appear nervous about quoting such big numbers. The incites we get suggest battery replacement costs hover between $20,000 and $40,000.

But that’s the cost if you’re replacing it with the original manufacturer battery. We’d expect to see battery replacement or reconditioning industries pop up over the next few years, in line with what happened for hybrid batteries used in Toyota cars. If that happens, you can pretty much guarantee the cost of reconditioning a battery will be significantly cheaper.

It’s also worth remembering that just because a warranty expires after eight years doesn’t mean the battery pack will expire with it. Most manufacturers guarantee at least 70 per cent of the original capacity of the battery after those eight years. A few engineers we’ve spoken to at vehicle manufacturers suggest that 70 per cent bottom limit is a worst-case scenario and that in most instances you’ll have much more of the original capacity.

Either way, don’t expect the battery to just die after eight years – in much the same way as engines and gearboxes don’t usually die on internal combustion engine vehicles after the five-year warranty has expired.

Question: I’m currently driving a VF Commodore but am getting a bit sick of spending $120 on fuel every time I roll up to a servo. I’m looking at alternatives that are more efficient and am tempted by hybrid. But I’m not sure what my options are or whether it’s worth changing cars. – Adrian K

Answer: We can understand your pain. Shelling out upwards of $2 a litre for regular unleaded is not nice. A hybrid will certainly ease some of the bowser pain.

The most obvious choice for an affordable hybrid will wear a Toyota badge. There are others available, but none outpunches Toyota in bang-for-buck, which is why the big T brand accounts for 90-something per cent of the hybrids sold here.

Zooming in on options, we’d steer you towards a Toyota Camry Hybrid. Sure, you can also look at a RAV4 Hybrid, but the prices are a bit crazy at the moment; there are big wait lists for new ones and people are falling over themselves for used ones.

However, it’s not quite that simple. Turns out you’re not the only one hunting around for a hybrid these days. That added demand has in turn pumped up prices of used Camry Hybrid models.

So whereas you can easily get into a V6 Commodore from 2016 (I’ve just picked a year for comparative purposes) for less than $20K, you’ll struggle to do the same with a Camry Hybrid; most 2016 Camry Hybrids currently listed for sale on carsales are going for upwards of $25K.

That’s important because it means you’ll likely be out of pocket by at least $5000 (likely a lot more) to trade up to a Camry of a similar era. That $5K would buy a lot of fuel…

Of course, you could look at older Camry Hybrid models.

The easier option is to adjust your driving style and how far you drive in the Commodore. If you do lots of short trips then it’d be good to cut them back (when an engine is cold it can use twice the fuel for the first kilometre or two of driving).

Also consider cutting back on the air-conditioning occasionally (it can increase fuel use by 10 per cent). And be gentle on throttle applications.

Question:

Answer: It’s lucky you’re not chasing much space, because the Puma and CX-3 are among the smaller of the compact SUVs on the market. That said, they’re absolutely fine up front; it’s in the back seats and boots where they tend to cut back on sprawling space.

The CX-3 is an elder statesman in the small SUV category but it’s also holding up well courtesy of updates. The interior still presents well (other than the small-ish infotainment screen and old-school instrument cluster) and it feels solid.

You can choose between front- and all-wheel drive versions and there’s a wider spread of trims. It’s also beautifully built and zippy around town, if a tad vocal when you make the engine work.

The Puma fights back with added character thanks to its perky 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo engine. It beautifully suits the car and is backed up with slick cornering dynamics.

That makes the Puma the pick for driving enjoyment, even if you can only get front-drive models.

Of course, you pay for the Puma privilege, but it packs a fair bit in for the money. While we’d be very happy in a CX-3, we reckon the Puma will leave you with more of a smile every day.

Got a question but don’t know where to find the information you need? Email us at editor@carsales.com.au

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