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An all-new Toyota HiLux could be less than 12 months away, with Toyota in Australia finally confirming the launch window for its long-awaited rival to the Ford Range and Isuzu D-Max.
Toyota in Australia says the new model will launch locally in 2025, meaning the wait is almost over for an all-new HiLux.
Fielding questions on whether the all-new HiLux would be able to retain its diesel engine in the face of tightening emissions regulations, Toyota Australia's VP of Sales and Marketing, Sean Hanley, answered "you'll have to wait until '25", seemingly confirming rumours that the new model would arrive next year.
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The local executive wouldn't be drawn on what would be powering the new model, but has previously flagged everything from a BEV, a plug-in hybrid and even a hydrogen fuel-cell being under study.
Seemingly firming, though, is at least the option of an i-Force Max petrol-hybrid powertrain, which is also destined to appear in the new LandCruiser Prado.
It links a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol engine with a 36kW electric motor integrated into an eight-speed transmission to pump out a total 243kW and 630Nm. It should prove both powerful and efficient, and would deliver a 2.7-tonne braked towing capacity – admittedly down on the the three-tonne-plus expected from a diesel.
"We were studying the options on all our cars before NVES, but let's be clear — whatever happens, there's going to be an emissions standard, and we will have to adjust our portfolio of product," Hanley told CarsGuide.
"I just don't know now what that means, we're studying that, at the appropriate time we'll let you know."
Also on the cards is a plug-in hybrid powertrain, with Mr Hanley previously confirming the technology is being developed for LCVs.
"If you had asked me three, four, five years ago, I was reluctant, because I don't think it's a convenient technology,” Mr Hanley says.
“However, having said that, that was under the condition that you got very little, or no, BEV (battery electric vehicle) power alone from a PHEV.
“However, battery technology evolves, and it's evolving quickly. If we can get to a situation where a PHEV has the capability of doing 200-plus kilometres on BEV alone — so in other words, if I've got a HiLux I can just go around town, I can run that on BEV and be carbon-neutral pretty well, providing I'm using renewable energy to do it.
“Now the issue is of course, can it tow? Can it take a heavy load? Well, to be able to flick a switch and say, well, for those moments where I'm going out off-road or for those moments where I need to tow a heavy load, I've got the convenience of going to a normal hybrid engine and I can get 500 or 600 kilometres and it's convenient, then I see a role for PHEV in that space.
“I think that's some years away, to be honest, that battery technology. But when it comes, PHEVs will have a renewed engagement with the market because they'll go from what I call the ultimate inconvenience to the ultimate convenience.”
Asked directly whether Toyota is working on a 200km-range PHEV, Mr Hanley replied: “Of course we are. And so that to us would represent two things. It's practical (and) it can do things that the customer wants it to do.”
Whatever happens, expect some form of electrification on the HiLux, with Toyota committing to electrifying every model in its line-up by 2030, which doesn't include 48-volt technology.
Given the shelf-life of a new ute, and the impending New Vehicle Emissions Standard, an electrified HiLux feels inevitable.
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