Ahead of its launch, the Toyota Hilux was spotted during a commercial shoot in Gurugram, Haryana. The Hilux was seen completely undisguised and it was seen covered in a bright red shade. The official launch of the Toyota Hilux is stated to be in January of 2022. Some Toyota dealers in India have begun unofficial bookings of Toyota Hilux with booking amounts ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹2 Lakhs. Toyota is yet to open official bookings for Hilux in India. Toyota’s Hilux slots into the niche segment of lifestyle pickup trucks, where its only rival in India will be the Isuzu D-Max.
Toyota Hilux: What To expect
The Hilux will share the same IMV-2 platform as the Innova and the Fortuner. Having said that, this pickup is significantly longer than the two cars, and measures just under 5.3m in length, and has a wheelbase of over 3m making it a behemoth on the road. The width of this pickup will be roughly the same as the Indian Fortuner. At the front, this truck gets a large hexagonal grille, clad with plastic.
The headlights emerge from the grille and neatly contour along the edge to the fender. Along the side, the flared wheel arches are only apparent. We also get to see a side step. The rear-view mirrors and the door handles, all have a chrome finish. It also gets a body-colored fender mirror. The rear as in all pickup trucks is simple, with small taillights and a gate to the cargo bed. Overall the rugged and off-road content of this car is neatly packed within its round arches. It has a good ground clearance coupled with a good approach angle. The Hilux is based on the same platform as the Fortuner and the Innova.
We expect to see the same 2.4L Diesel engine that puts out 150HP or the larger 2.8L diesel engine that puts out 204HP. We could get 2WD variants as well as the four-wheel-drive variant for the Hilux. The gearbox options are yet not clear, as we have seen that both engines have been offered with a manual or automatic gearbox in our market