Toyota Fortuner GR Sport could be unleashed on Mzansi

The Toyota Fortuner could be the next model in the Japanese carmaker’s local stable to receive the GR Sport (GR-S) treatment.

The Toyota Fortuner is South Africa’s favourite medium-sized SUV and adding the popular GR Sport nomenclature to the range is bound to enhance the seven-seater’s appeal ever more.

Seven years into its life cycle, the Fortuner was updated just last month. With an all-new model only expected to arrive in the next two to three years, now could be the perfect time to introduce a GR-S to South Africa for the first time.

Watch the updated Toyota Fortuner

GR Sport under consideration

According to Toyota Motors South Africa (TSAM), the prospect of a Toyota Fortuner GR-S joining the updated range is being considered.

“The feasibility of the GR-S Fortuner is currently under consideration. Nothing has been decided yet, but watch this space,” Riaan Esterhuysen, TSAM Senior Manager: Product PR & Gazoo Racing told The Citizen Motoring during the recent launch pf the updated Fortuner.

TSAM expanded its GR offerings considerably over the last few years. The manufacturer’s current local Gazoo Racing portfolio comprises three out-and-out GR models and an additional two GR Sport models.

The three hardcore models are the GR Supra, the GR86 and the GR Yaris. This trio is engineered with Gazoo Racing DNA which is race-ready performance-wise, like Road Test Editor Mark Jones has shown in the GR Cup piloting both the Yaris and the 86.

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A fourth model in the form of the GR Corolla will also be available locally later this year.

The two models being the GR Sport nomenclature are the Corolla Cross and the Hilux.

In the case of the Corolla Cross, the GR-S treatment consists mainly of interior and exterior styling enhancements, with the addition of a tweaked suspension and enhancement power steering.

Power bump?

The same applies the GR-S Hilux, with the double cab also benefitting from a power bump. The GR-S toyota Hilux produces 165 kW of power and 550 Nm of torque, an uptake of 15kW/50Nm over the standard 2.8-litre Hilux models.

Because the Toyota Fortuner is built on the same platform and alongside the Hilux in the carmaker’s Prospecton assembly plant in Durban, the assumption is that a GR-S Fortuner is likely to feature the same powertrain as the GR-S Hilux.

Toyota already builds a 165kW/550Nm GR-S Fortuner at its Zárate assembly plant in Argentina, albeit under the SW4 nameplate as which the Fortuner is known in most of South America.

For now, we’ll have to play the waiting game to see if TSAM decides to unleash a Toyota Fortuner GR-S, and at which price and specification level, on South Africa.