The 4Runner might offer the clearest indication yet of what the new Toyota Fortuner will look like. Picture: Toyota
The Toyota 4Runner launched in the US remains off limits for South Africa. But what is significant for Mzansi is that the new Toyota Fortuner could share a design language with its SUV cousin.
In The Citizen Motoring‘s Pitstop podcast, Jaco van der Merwe, Mark Jones and Charl Bosch discuss the importance of the new 4Runner. And they explain why the new Toyota Fortuner and Hilux are likely to share styling vestiges with the 4Runner and its Tacoma bakkie siblings, respectively.
It was reported three years ago that a product alignment strategy will see the new Hilux and Tacoma styled closer to each other for the first time in almost three decades. And the same goes for the bakkies’ SUV siblings, the Fortuner and 4Runner.
With the new Tacoma rolled out last year and now the 4Runner, South Africans will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Toyota Fortuner and Hilux. No dates have been set yet, but it seems highly likely that both will be introduced sometime in 2025.
ALSO READ: First hint of next Toyota Fortuner? All-new 4Runner officially debuts
The 4Runner rides on the TNGA-F platform, on which the new Toyota Fortuner and Hilux will be built. South African models already riding on this platform include the Land Cruiser 300 and Lexus LX. And the new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, whose local launch date has now been postponed to July.
The new 4Runner is offered across the Atlantic in a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol variant and in a 2.4-litre hybrid guise. It produces 207kW of power and 512Nm of torque as standard and 244kW/630Nm in hybrid guise.
These powertrains are also offered in the new Prado in other markets. But Mzansi will only get the 150kW/500Nm 2.8-litre GD-6 turbodiesel mill in the Prado for now.
The Pitstop panellists are therefore convinced that it will be much the same regarding the new Toyota Fortuner’s powertrain. It is likely to be offered with 48V mild electrical assistance, which adds 12kW/65Nm, the 2.8 is going nowhere.
ALSO READ: Taco delivered: Next Toyota Hilux previewed as new Tacoma debuts
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
