Utes

Utes have become the Swiss Army knives of the vehicle world. People love utes because they can be used for a multitude of different real-life purposes. Utes can carry people and loads and do it all safely and smoothly. And Ford Rangers are among the most popular utes around.

Toyota is betting big on hydrogen.The Japanese giant has been forging ahead with the zero-CO2 tech despite a big global focus on battery-powered electric cars.It appears the HiLux is the next vehicle the brand is targeting to use hydrogen power with a fleet of 10 prototypes undergoing evaluation and testing in the UK.Five vehicles are being put through rigorous field testing to assess safety, performance, functionality and durability, generating test drive data in real-world situations. Another five will be used for promotional purposes at the upcoming Olympic Games.The vehicles are fitted with the company’s hydrogen fuel-cell technology, which converts hydrogen to electricity that charges a lithium-ion battery, which feeds an electric motor. The only tailpipe emission is water.The hydrogen fuel cell HiLux has a driving range of up to 600km and uses a single 134kW/300Nm electric motor to drive the rear wheels.A Toyota Australia spokesperson said: “The HiLux FCEV is a Toyota UK-led trial. It demonstrates how a fuel cell might be incorporated in a pick-up. Thanks to hydrogen being light, a vehicle such as an FCEV HiLux can offer higher payload and towing capabilities than other zero tailpipe emission alternatives.” “If a prototype were to become available for evaluation in Australia, we would welcome the opportunity, especially given the extensive involvement with HiLux by our vehicle evaluation department.”Toyota Australia Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley said hydrogen still had a fair way to go before mass market adoption in Australia.“Infrastructure is still our biggest challenge, but we do still see it as a part of the future,” said Hanley.“What’s challenging is that people want volume before they invest in infrastructure, so it may be incumbent on the likes of Hyundai and Toyota to lead that,” he said.Currently there are only a handful of hydrogen refuelling stations covering Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney.“I do believe it’s still in that 2030-2035 horizon. I think it’s a while to go, but certainly a technology that we will continue to invest in,” said Hanley.“It’s not something that I see in the foreseeable three to five year horizon. We will sell those cars in the next two years, but it will be sold in areas where we have infrastructure to support.”Currently Toyota has a small fleet of its Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Australia that it leases to companies, but it is not for sale to the general public.The company has a hydrogen HiAce van trial operating in Australia. Unlike the HiLux prototype, which uses a fuel cell to make electricity, the HiAce uses a conventional engine that runs on hydrogen.

Toyota is preparing to muster its big Tundra pick-up truck for sale in Australia.The company has been running a small trial with customers who’ve opted in to a $2500 a month “all costs covered” loan of the full-size ute that will go head-to-head with the Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-150 and Ram 1500The Tundra is imported in left-hand drive and converted to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw, which used to apply their craft to fast Holdens, in Melbourne.Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley, said he is very optimistic the local arm will get approval to launch the car officially to the public soon.“We haven’t done all this not to launch it,” said Hanley.“We still have a way to go and a trial is a trial. It’s a trial not a PR stunt. We are correcting, finding . We want this Tundra to be as close to OE spec for our customers as we can get based on the local conversion.”Hanley indicated the trial had helped iron out any issues with the conversion process and quality problems with the vehicle before it goes on sale to the public.The famously conservative Japanese company may be on to something. Ford and its remanufacturing partner RMA Automotive have run into a mass of quality issues since it launched the F-150 late last year. This includes multiple stop sale orders to correct compliance issues and several recalls.Ford was even forced to dip into its own pocket to placate customers by giving a complimentary five year/75,000km service program to all affected F-150 customers.Toyota should have no such issues according to Hanley.“We are in contact with 189 customers pretty regularly,” said Hanley“Quality issues have been low. We’ve had a couple of things, some of them from donor vehicles and some relate back to warranty stuff, but nothing major.”“We’ve had a few little things in the conversion, again nothing major.“It’s proving to be a really good exercise for us because we are able to get these things fixed at Walkinshaw and re-evaluate what we are doing. “It is incredibly encouraging for us and looking more and more positive that we’ll get approval to launch this car in the near future,” he said.He wouldn’t confirm when the Tundra would be given the green light but Hanley suggested the company would have some news towards the end of the year.When it does arrive potential customers can expect some pretty impressive performance from the Tundra.It uses a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 hybrid set-up to make a combined 326kW and 790Nm. Those are big boy numbers.It can tow 4500kg in Australia. This was reduced from 5500kg in the US because Aussies would need a truck licence to drive it with that capability.Hanley said part of the trial was to educate people on what the car is capable of, and not.“One of the things we don’t want to portray is that the Tundra is a LandCruiser 70 Series off-road vehicle. It’s not, it’s not that truck,” he said.

The Toyota HiLux needs help, with Australia's once-dominant dual-cab now being routinely beaten by the Ford Ranger. Can the i-Force Max hybrid powertrain save it?

We all want to prevent the world from turning into a natural disaster riddled hothouse in the not-too-distant future, that’s a given.But EVs aren’t the magical solution to the world’s climate woes that many people believe them to be, however driving them may at least form one small part of humankind’s ever-changing scramble to rectify the damage we have all wrought on the world during our time here.Driving an EV may be preferable to the world turning into a fiery hellhole, but if you live outside of a city or if you’re a ute-driving tradie who has to travel many hours and many kilometres during a typical work day – to several different job sites, to Bunnings, to a pie shop, to another location to do a quote for a new client – an EV is not a viable option.At the moment there are just so many variables involved with using an EV ute as your vehicle of choice – range anxiety, lack of charging stations, the actual time it takes to charge – that it just doesn’t make sense as a daily driver.So what is a viable option? A hybrid vehicle – one with a traditional fuel source (petrol or diesel) and electric power – is a cheaper alternative to a full-blown EV and it yields better fuel economy and less environmental impact than a standard petrol or diesel engine vehicle.A plug-in hybrid ute – one in which the electric motor runs the show until its battery is depleted enough that the internal-combustion engine kicks in as back-up – offers a happy compromise between saving the planet and still being able to get to and from job sites on time and with a full load onboard.And, lucky for all of us, some interesting options are on their way, not the least of which is the Chinese-built BYD Shark, which on paper at least, looks like it might just rattle the cage of the Aussie ute market.This is a first for Australia – a plug-in hybrid ute – and in terms of performance and potential, the Shark presents a strong case.It has a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine with dual electric motors: a 170kW/310NM front motor and a 150kw/340Nm rear motor (total: 320kW and 650Nm).This BYD ute has a claimed driving range of 100km (electric only) and approximately 850km (hybrid).That’s a decent stretch of driving and worth noting because a plug-in hybrid doesn’t burden its driver with the crippling range anxiety that troubles some EV drivers.Think about that for a moment.An EV is wholly reliant on electric power; a hybrid isn’t. A hybrid can be driven with confidence all day if needed, because there are service stations everywhere (so you can fuel up if you have to), but there aren’t reliable EV charging stations everywhere.In fact, in the three years I’ve been involved in testing and reviewing EVs, I’ve found that charging stations are often broken/non-functional, offline (for maintenance purposes), too busy (with a queue already formed), or worse still, the parking space allocated to an EV for charging has been taken by an ICE vehicle because the driver was too bloody lazy to park a few more steps away from their favourite fast-food joint.The Shark has a listed payload of 850kg and braked towing capacity of 2500kg. It doesn’t have the 1000kg payload or 3500kg market-standard towing capacity of a stack of other utes, but it can still take on a considerable burden and clock up big distances before it needs to be refuelled/recharged – which is more than anyone can reasonably expect from any current EV.An EV’s driving range is effectively halved when it’s faced with extreme demands, such as carrying a payload’s worth of tools and equipment, or towing a trailer load of building materials.The power-consumption claims of EV manufacturers are one thing, but real-world use is another. For example, Rivian claims its R1T electric ute in the US has a touring range of 643km, but it wouldn’t do anywhere near that distance fully loaded and driving from job site to job site to job site … and the pie shop.Hybrids are generally a good combination of performance and fuel economy and offer people the opportunity to do something rather than nothing about addressing serious emissions issues in the world.Plug-in hybrids make a lot of sense as utes and there are more on the way including new versions of the Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton with petrol plug-in hybrid systems, so pretty soon you’ll be spoilt for choice.A well-priced, well-engineered plug-in hybrid ute could be the effective workhorse and happy compromise that everyone is waiting for.If you’re a tradie, a plug-in hybrid ute will give you the ability to reduce emissions, save on fuel costs and still lug loads, go the distance, tow your boat … and hit the pie shop. Job done.

Those holding out to order a new V8-power Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series are out of luck.Orders of the V8-powered version of the legendary tough truck have been paused for about two years and the chances of them opening are slim, according to Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley.“At this stage I have no clear vision of that order bank opening again anytime soon. We’ve still got a way to go to clear what we’ve got,” said Hanley.“So I don’t foresee that order bank for V8 LandCruiser 70 Series opening any time soon.”The good news, for those with an existing order, is the company is now starting to fill that large order bank.“We are filling the orders as we speak, which is good for customers that have been waiting and we expect to be able to fill those orders,” said Hanley.The Federal Government's impending New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which will come into effect next year, had put a shadow of doubt over these long-standing orders being filled.Under the NVES, carmakers will be fined for every vehicle they sell that produces CO2 over a certain level. This level gets lower and lower every year and an old V8 diesel motor will not meet this new standard.Toyota has brought in a new four-cylinder version to help prolong the life of the rugged four-wheel drive.This four-cylinder version uses the same 2.8-litre turbo-diesel motor found in the HiLux and is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission.Hanley said at the time of the four-cylinder’s launch it would broaden its appeal even further, making it more accessible to a wider cross-section of customers than ever before.Now it appears customers will have no choice but to take the four-cylinder.Hanley indicated customers haven’t warmed to the smaller-engined 70 Series but he said the take-up rate for the four-cylinder was improving by the day.

The battle for the title of Australia's favourite jumbo truck is heating up, with just two sales separating the Chevrolet Silverado and the Ram 1500 in May.

Hyundai says upcoming ute won't be diesel and won't be necessary for challenging its primary top-three rivals.

A V6 twin-turbo-petrol version of the Kia Tasman, and the Prado-fighting ladder-frame 4WD it is expected to underpin, is not yet ruled out, with Kia in Australia suggesting the vehicle's long model life will allow for enhancements.

Kia has made no secret that it has high hopes for its upcoming Tasman ute, targeting more than 20,000 annual sales. BYD has declared its upcoming dual-cab (expected to be called Shark) will have “best-in-class” attributes.