The next-generation Toyota Highlander – which is sold in Australia as the Kluger – will be offered with a range-extender EV (EREV) drivetrain option, at least in China.
At GAC Toyota’s technology day event last week, Toyota said it would tailor core, globally-developed products for the Chinese market in concert with its local development team, local suppliers, and two joint-venture manufacturing partners, GAC and FAW.
Up until now, Toyota’s localisation efforts in China have been limited to revised front-end styling for some models. This has largely been done to differentiate versions of the same car sold by FAW and GAC.
In addition to this, the automaker will offer range-extender EV drivetrains in its next-generation Highlander SUV and Sienna people mover. The Highlander and Sienna (below) are designed primarily with North American and China markets in mind, and are produced in both locations.
No details about the EREV drivetrain were announced, and it’s unclear if it will be offered in Highlander and Sienna models built in the States, where Australia-bound Klugers are built.
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The current-generation Highlander was launched in 2019, and is currently available with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, a 2.4-litre turbocharged four-pot, and a 2.5-litre four-cylinder hybrid. No plug-in hybrid variant is available.
In Australia the Highlander is sold as the Kluger, and the popular seven-seat large SUV went hybrid-only in 2024, dropping the turbo option.
With a typical life cycle of six to seven years, the Highlander/Kluger is due for renewal around 2026. A report last year indicated Toyota had pushed the launch of the Highlander EV back to 2026 due to lower-than-expected demand for electric cars, especially in the US.
Given Toyota’s latest model plan sees it adding pure-electric propulsion options to existing model lines, rather than developing distinct EV-only models to complement separate petrol/hybrid models – like the bZ4X and RAV4 (both below) – it’s likely the fifth-generation Highlander will be offered with EV, hybrid and, possibly, petrol drivetrains, as well as EREV.
Both the Highlander and Sienna are based on the TNGA-K platform, which also underpins the recently unveiled eighth-generation Lexus ES, which will be offered with a pair of hybrid and pure-electric options.
The fourth-generation Sienna made its debut in 2020, and with the change over ditched the long-serving 3.5-litre V6 in favour of a 2.5-litre four-cylinder hybrid. Again, no plug-in hybrid option is available. It’s less clear when the Sienna will be renewed, with the previous generation having an extended 10-year life.
Unlike the Highlander/Kluger, the Sienna is only made in left-hand drive. In some right-hand drive markets Toyota offers other people movers like the Alphard/Vellfire, Voxy/Noah, and Sienta.
Toyota hasn’t stated whether it will be developing its own EREV system, or using technology and systems developed by manufacturing partners or Chinese suppliers.
While Toyota was an early proponent of petrol-electric hybrid drivetrains, and does development for it in-house, it has been slower to embrace electric vehicles. Although Toyota is using its own technology in EVs like the bZ4X, bZ4X Touring, Lexus RZ, and the new Lexus ES, it has launched a number of China-only EV models based on platforms from partners GAC and FAW, and using battery technology from BYD.
MORE: Everything Toyota Kluger