A smaller, car-derived, sub-HiLux ute from Toyota appears to be in the pipeline, but it is unclear when it is due in showrooms – and if it will look as RAV4-like as these illustrations.
Toyota is considering a smaller, car-derived ute for its US line-up to capitalise on the success of the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz family SUV-turned-pick-ups.
And it could look something like these illustrations of a dual-cab ute based on the latest RAV4 mid-size SUV – created by Theottle – which is due in Australia in the first half of 2026.
“We’re looking at it,” Mark Templin, Toyota USA chief operating officer, told Bloomberg.
“We could really do well in that segment, so we’re trying to do it. It’s a matter of timing,” Cooper Ericksen, Toyota North America senior vice president of planning and strategy, said in a separate interview with the outlet.
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Such a vehicle would slot under the Tacoma, the company’s entry-level ute in North America, which is slightly larger – and based on newer underpinnings, with petrol or petrol-hybrid power – than Australia’s HiLux.
The most natural route for Toyota to take is a pick-up based on the latest RAV4, using its updated platform, styling and choice of hybrid or plug-in hybrid power.
It’s the path followed by its rivals, the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz respectively, based on each brand’s Escape and Tucson SUVs.
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US versions of the new RAV4 are powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder hybrid system developing 169kW with front-wheel drive and 176kW with all-wheel drive, or a 239kW all-wheel-drive 2.5-litre plug-in hybrid.
Reports out of South America late last year claimed Toyota has told Brazilian dealers it is planning a smaller, hybrid ute on a car-derived platform for 2027 based on the electric Toyota EPU concept.
It remains to be seen if that model is exclusive to South America, where similar car-derived utes often have two doors, and need to meet less stringent safety standards than the US and Australia.
MORE: Toyota unveils small electric ute concept
Toyota could instead make the new car-derived ute electric, in a more literal interpretation of the EPU concept shown at the Tokyo motor show nearly two years ago.
An electric Toyota dual-cab ute has been confirmed for sale in Europe by the end of 2026, wearing a “familiar and instantly recognisable” name.
It could mean an electric HiLux, or a revival of the Stout badge used on Toyota’s compact ute in the 1960s.
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