Toyota's new RAV4-based compact ute rendered! Would you buy this baby HiLux?

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Toyota's new RAV4-based ute rendered. (image credit KDesign AG)
Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
8 Jun 2022
2 min read

Toyota is reportedly exploring a new sub-HiLux ute built on the same TNGA underpinnings as the top-selling RAV4 Hybrid and which would rival models like the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz.

TNGA is the platform that underpins the brand's passenger-biased vehicle range, including the Yaris and Corolla and the C-HR and RAV4 – but, crucially, not the HiLux, which rocks a ladder-frame setup.

Which is exactly what has inspired this artists impression - done by the talented Kleber Silva - which imagines the new model taking its styling cues not from the HiLux, butĀ from the massively popular RAV4.

But would an urban-focused baby HiLux work? Toyota's rivals seem to think so, with the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick both making waves in the USA.

ā€œOne of the spaces we're looking at—that won't be short-term—is where the compact pick-up truck is going. You have Santa Cruz and Maverick on the market, and it will be interesting to see [VW's] Scout,ā€ Toyota Motor North America executive vice-president of sales Bob Carter told MotorTrend.

ā€œToday, we have the market really well covered with Tacoma, but that [a compact pick-up] could be a possibility and something we continue to look at.ā€

While the brand hasn't ruled out the possibility of a true ladder-frame mini-workhorse, the company's TNGA platform is a more likely candidate, Toyota Motor North America group vice-president of product planning and strategy Cooper Ericksen told MotorTrend

ā€œIf 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,ā€ he said.

America, though, is a long way from Australia – and Australia's ute tastes. So would a mini-HiLux work Down Under? Tell us in the comments below.

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold. But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul. And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard. When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House. But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others. More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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