Toyota Teases Stretched Grand Highlander SUV

The Toyota Highlander is already one among America’s best-selling 3-row midsize SUVs. For a lot of months, it wins that title outright. It’s recognized for excellent construct high quality and resale worth, that well-known Toyota reliability, and a pleasant stability of options for the worth.

However Toyota thinks it could possibly be greater.

A Highlander, however Grand

The corporate this week teased a brand new automobile with a reputation that tells you most of what that you must know. The 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander will make its first public look at subsequent February’s Chicago Auto Present.

Toyota says it “grows the SUV household as the last word road-trip automobile.”

For now, that’s about all Toyota says about it. However a teaser picture tells us at the least two items of essential info.

First, there’s the apparent. It’s a blurred shot, and all you may make out is the rear of the SUV. That is smart, because the Grand Highlander might be largely a Highlander with a much bigger butt. We will’t see the rear overhang because the wheels are obscured. However the level of constructing a stretched model of an SUV is so as to add more room for cargo and rear-seat passengers.

So we assume the Grand Highlander provides extra residing house to the third row and cargo house behind it.

It does look restyled from the present Highlander’s caboose, with two rows of skinny LED taillights (two rows — Genesis designers have to be seething. That’s their finest transfer).

Hybrid Drivetrain

The opposite clue is a badge that’s a little bit onerous to make out. The underside of the tailgate reads “hybridMAX.” That’s the identify of a powertrain Toyota has used on the 2023 Crown sedan-ish-crossover-like-thing. The Crown combines a 2.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder gasoline engine with an electrical motor, making 340 whole horsepower.

We’ll know extra in February.

Oh, and we must also be aware that wherever Toyota goes, its Lexus luxurious model follows, just a bit dressier. The Grand Highlander might share a lot of its structure with the upcoming Lexus TX.