Toyota Kluger News

Ford Australia has axed so many of its cars over the past two years that it almost has nothing left on sale. It’s just lucky that one of the few cars left that it does sell — the Ranger ute —  does so in enormous numbers. So what’s missing from Ford’s line-up? A lot. Here are the cars we think Ford really needs in Australia right now.Ford lacks a rival, to not just to hardcore four-wheel drives like the Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol, but to more domesticated Aussie family favourites such as the Toyota Kluger, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Yes, the Ford Everest seats seven and can go off-road with the best of them, but a more plush and comfortable suburban cruiser would fit nicely in the line-up.Now this might hurt a little bit and I apologise in advance, but in South Africa you can buy a Ford Territory. I know, what the Ford!?So, the South African Ford Territory is made in China and sold in other countries but it’s made in right-hand drive, which means there’s no reason why we can’t have it here.This new Territory isn’t as big as the Santa Fe at 4.63m long so it’s not really a large SUV but still, what a shame.What Australia really needs is a Ford Explorer, as in the petrol-powered version form the United States, not the UK electric version. The US Explorer is a a five-metre long seven seater, while the UK version is 4.4m and smaller than an Escape.Nope, bigger is better in this case and while the Explorer is currently only made in left hand drive, there is a chance a right hand drive might get the green light for the next-gen model.Ford axing the Escape is the car company equivalent to throwing away your only pair of pants just because you don’t like the colour of them.OK, that’s a terrible analogy but the point is mid-sized SUVs are the bread and butter of car brands and they sell all year long in large numbers and they’re kind of an essential item to car manufacturers. Ford axed the Escape because it didn’t sell enough of them. But it could easily bring back the Escape because it’s sold in the right-hand drive in the UK.Ford should seriously consider it, the mid-sized SUV segment is increasing in size at 19.6 per cent market share and Ford’s not able to join in the spoils. Toyota has the RAV4, Kia has the Sportage, Nissan has the X-Trail and Ford has nothing. No pants to wear at all.If there’s something Australians love almost as much as mid-sized SUVs it’s a small SUV. We’re talking the likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and the MG ZS. And Ford did have the Puma, but axed it in 2024 just four years after it arrived.The Puma was a high-quality feeling and premium looking SUV, but it was overpriced compared to its rivals and so sales struggled. People want premium looking at budget prices apparently.The Puma is sold in the UK as a hybrid and a fully-electric vehicle, so bringing it to Australia wouldn’t require anything other than a trip on a boat from Romania where they’re made.So there you are, Ford has pretty much all the cars it needs in right-hand drive to take the fight to rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla Cross, the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Will we see the Territory again? Will Aussies be OK with a Chinese made Territory? Given the the shift in attitudes and growing maturity towards Chinese brands and their rapid take-up there's no reason they wouldn't be.Sure bringing back the Territory nameplate, plus the Puma and Escape could be a risk for Ford, but would it be as big a risk as having all your eggs in the Ranger basket as it does now?

People movers were never cool in Australia, but that’s changing as our evolving tastes take us out of SUVs and into little buses.

Toyota buyers around the world are facing extended delays on delivery of their newly purchased cars due to a rise in the popularity of hybrids. We asked Toyota Australia if the shortage affects us here, too.The delays are all down to a shortage of components for hybrid vehicles which have become popular following several years in which fully electric vehicles went through a boom, only for interest to start tapering off.The surge in popularity for hybrids has forced Toyota to rush to meet the increase in demand with the company saying it would boost production. Toyota also released a statement appearing to play down the matter. "Currently, the production capacity for hybrid parts and components from our suppliers and our in-house parts manufacturing is line with our annual production plans and our vehicle assembly capacity," it said.A concerning factor is that the shortage of parts affecting vehicle delivery time is widespread. Hybrid stock is low in the United States, Japan, China and Europe according to a report from Reuters news agency.Australia has also seen an increase in demand for hybrid vehicles with last year’s total sales up by 39.9 per cent on 2023 and while there is still a growing appetite for electric cars here, the uptake appears to be slowing with 2024’s total up by 10 per cent.The news appears to support Toyota’s long held view that despite an interest in fully electric vehicles consumers would return to hybrids. Toyota Australia has long maintained hybrids would become the preferred choice over electric cars. The company has only one electric vehicle - the bZ4X - on sale here, while the rest of its range is almost entirely hybrid including the RAV4, Kluger, Corolla, Corolla Cross, Yaris and Yaris Cross. CarsGuide asked Toyota Australia if the current hybrid shortage would affect local buyers.“Hybrid-electric vehicles account for more than half our sales this year,” a Toyota Australia spokesperson said. “Supply is healthy, both now and confirmed for the coming months. Customers placing an order today can expect to receive their vehicle in less than four months on average.”Currently wait times are nothing compared to how long customers were waiting on cars in 2022 when COVID-19 and a semi-conductor shortage blew delivery times out to a year for certain in-demand Toyota models.  

One of Nissan’s oldest nameplates, Pathfinder, may not be long for Australia as we know it, as legislative changes here and abroad determine the car’s future.But the potential replacement looming for our market to better take on the big-selling Ford Everest, Toyota Kluger, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento in the big three-row SUV segment might be the knockout blow Nissan sorely needs against such tough competition.According to Nissan Oceania Vice President and Managing Director, Andrew Humberstone, the main stumbling block with the existing Pathfinder is around maintaining profitability and competitiveness in the face of looming tariffs in the United States.“Pathfinding is an interesting one because… of what's going to happen with tariffs, the whole Trump effect,” he told CarsGuide.“So where does that leave us, and how do we manage that?”Like its closest competitor, the Kluger (or Highlander, as it is known in North America), the past two generations of Pathfinder have been sourced from the US.That works in the Nissan’s favour post-tariff implementation, but the three-row SUV uses components from Japan, Mexico, China and elsewhere, meaning it is subject to potentially punitive taxes, that in turn makes the vehicle more expensive for Nissan Australia to import.And affordability has been the current model’s biggest bugbear with consumers.With the consistent low volume the Pathfinder delivers, Humberstone believes that the Pathfinder business case as it currently stands may not work moving forward.Last year, Nissan only managed to register 523 units, which represented a 63 per cent decline over 2023’s results of 1400 sales. The latter is still around a third of what the series used to manage a decade ago in Australia.Why? The Pathfinder was severely hamstrung by the unavailability of the base ST and mid-grade ST-L versions that the existing R53 series launched with here in late 2022.This meant that the cheapest version, the Ti, started from over $70,000, instead of under $55,000, where the entry-level alternatives, including Kluger, the Santa Fe and Sorento, commence.“We have opted to streamline the Pathfinder line-up due to unavoidable supply constraints and ongoing disruption in the global production environment,” a company spokesperson said at the time.This situation was only partly rectified mid-year with the return of the ST-L, which currently kicks off from $59,945 before on-road costs, meaning that the old ST remains AWOL.Additionally, the Pathfinder only offers an albeit magnificent V6 petrol engine. This competes against the far-more economical, now hybrid-only Kluger and Santa Fe HEV hybrid, that costs similar money to and less respectively than the ST-L, further eroding the Nissan’s appeal.In fact, with the NVES kicking in from January 1 this year, federal government-mandated fines in the future seem certain for the Pathfinder if things don’t change. Currently it emits an average of 245 grams per kilometre of carbon dioxide, against this year’s 141g/km standard – and the latter figure will fall annually.So, what about the alternatives?The strongest contender currently must surely be the current series’ Chinese fraternal twin, unveiled at the 2023 Auto Shanghai show, built by partner Dongfeng and also badged Pathfinder.In one stroke, this restyled and reengineered version with a sleek fresh look inside and out (while still boasting the same, big dimensions) would address the US R53’s biggest drawbacks – expensive sourcing and a thirsty powertrain, since it instead uses Nissan’s KR20DDET 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine.Producing 185kW of power and 386Nm of torque in Dongfeng spec and driving either the front or all four wheels via a nine-speed torque-converter automatic, in China the combined average fuel consumption figure is 8.6L/100km. That’s nearly 2.0L/100km less than what’s in Australian models today.Note, however, that the latter is also set to replace the V6 in the US Pathfinder soon, so we may see the four-pot turbo arrive in the existing shape in the not-too-distant future.Of course, other contenders may also follow, but these loom largest for Australia right now.According to Humberstone, Nissan has vowed to be more reactive and proactive with future models, giving consumers what they want whilst striving to deliver industry-best aftersales care, to win back buyers.“We need to be very agile in this kind of global economic situation,” he added.To that end, replacing established models with more cost-effective (read: cheaper) solutions from China is not out of the question.“We have a broad range of opportunities, between joint ventures with Chinese manufacturers, between product all over the world,” Humberstone explained.“What we're dealing with at the moment is: what is best for the market today and serves our purpose today, where we have critical mass that works for, number one, the consumer, number two the dealer network and, number three, for us.“Let's see if there's opportunity.”Watch this space.

In 2025, no other car company in Australia will offer quite the combination of body styles and powertrain choices for buyers seeking an SUV or crossover with three rows of seating as Hyundai.

Toyota’s entire passenger range is going hybrid only from today.As first revealed by CarsGuide earlier this week, the Corolla Cross SUV will ditch its petrol engine variants and go hybrid only.Now Toyota has confirmed the RAV4 and Kluger SUVs and Corolla sedan will follow suit and only be available to order in hybrid form from today. Toyota has already announced its Yaris, Corolla hatch, Yaris Cross and C-HR are going hybrid only.Only the brand’s commercial vehicles and rugged 4WDs will be available with conventional petrol or diesel powertrains.Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Dealer Operations Sean Hanley said the adoption of hybrid vehicles in Australia made this decision possible.“This is not a result of the impending New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES). These are trends that are in the market now. In fact, the new mandated standard confirms the foresight of Toyota’s strategy,” said Hanley.“We continue and we will do even more in coming years to innovate across a diverse range of drivetrains, which is the essence of Toyota’s multi pathway approach.“So in that sense, you could say Toyota has been embracing the spirit of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard for an extended period with our hybrids, plus out move now into BEVs and our comprehensive future model plans that remain under wraps for now. We remain committed to allowing customers to choose the low carbon or no carbon drivetrain that best suits their circumstances.”The Federal Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) has passed through both houses of parliament and will come into effect next year.This new standard will penalise carmakers for every car they sell that produces more CO2 than a set level. These levels will get harder to meet every year.There are few petrol-engined cars that will escape punishment but hybrids will slip under the mandated levels for a few years at least.In May, hybrid sales made up 48.9 per cent of the Toyota's total volume. More than 46 per cent of the brand's total sales for the first five months of this year have been hybrids.The top-selling RAV4 was more than 95 per cent hybrid the past month, demand for the Camry hybrid was up more than 250 per cent and Corolla Cross Hybrid sales have more than doubled this year.Petrol sales still make up about 20 per cent of Kluger SUV volume, though.The deletion of the petrol options for the Corolla Cross, RAV4 and Kluger means it’ll be more expensive to get into one of these models, too.Hybrid power costs $2500 more in the Corolla Cross and RAV4 and a whopping $6500 extra in the seven-seat Kluger. That big jump is due to Kluger hybrid variants only coming with all-wheel drive and not the cheaper two-wheel drive layout available in the petrol-only versions.That means the new entry point to Corolla Cross range is $36,480 (before on-road costs), $42,260 for the RAV4 and $60,920 for the Kluger.Toyota has no plans to add a cheaper two-wheel drive version of the Kluger hybrid, according to Hanley.The Japanese brand will honour all existing petrol orders, with those cars to be delivered over the next few months. Kluger petrol deliveries will stretch into next year, though.

Toyota’s electric vehicle strategy remains shrouded in mystery after the brand turned its attention to rapid development of BEVs last year.

Toyota Kluger pricing has climbed by $2630 across the range for 2024 despite no equipment additions. The seven-seat Kia Sorento, Hyundai Palisade and Mazda CX-90 rival is available in three trim levels and starts at $54,420 (before on-road costs) for the 198kW GX petrol FWD – $4700 dearer than when the turbo-petrol launched in December 2022.Toyota last adjusted the Kluger’s price in August 2023 and the current cost-of-entry is $2630 higher than that change. This fourth increase in two years applies across the range.“Toyota is committed to keeping price increases to a minimum” a Toyota Australia spokesperson told Carsguide."These changes came into effect on 4 March 2024 due to increased costs and inflationary pressures both here and overseas," they added.The entry-level Kluger GX front-wheel drive scores cloth upholstery, an 8.0-inch multimedia touchscreen, 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster and dual-zone climate control. All-wheel drive is available for $58,420 and a 184kW hybrid for $60,920, both before on-road costs. The mid-spec GXL ($31,940-70,440) adds a larger 12.3-inch touchscreen, synthetic leather upholstery (and more) while the flagship Grande sprinkles 20-inch alloy wheels, an 11-speaker JBL sound system, leather upholstery and a panoramic sunroof on top. The Kluger is the latest Toyota model to face price increases following the diminutiveYaris hatch (up $1270-$1770) and Yaris Cross (+$880-$950) light SUVs that were subject to bumps in March. In terms of year-to-date sales, although it remains behind seven-seat body-on-frame alternatives such as the Ford Everest (4499) and Isuzu MU-X (4854), the Toyota Kluger (2556) has been more popular than monocoque rivals such as the Kia Sorento (2552) and Hyundai Palisade (795) this year. 2024 Toyota Kluger pricing (before on-road costs)

In a statement reminiscent of a Clarke and Dawe skit from the early 1990s, Toyota Australia has issued a recall for more than 30,000 Kluger SUVs after it was found that there’s a risk that the front might fall off - or some of it, at least.

Not everyone who buys an SUV wants to tackle hardcore off-road adventures. In fact, I reckon most of them don’t. Most people want a well-equipped and comfortable family vehicle that is off-road-capable enough for an occasional foray onto a well-maintained dirt road, which leads to their favourite national park, campsite, or out-of-the-way beach.