The question everybody is asking may have just been inadvertently answered by Toyota itself.
Just how closely related will the 2025 Toyota HiLux and 2024 Toyota Tacoma utes actually be? For the first time ever, could they even be one-and-the-same?
The answer to these and other burning questions might be partly revealed, thanks to Toyota USA’s announcement of a new off-road focused grade with an unexpected Australian connection for the coming next-generation Tacoma mid-sized pick-up truck.
Following on from the Tundra Trailhunter revealed in November last year at SEMA and known as Tacoma Trailhunter, it will likely be unveiled along with the rest of the 2024 Tacoma ute range in mid-May, wearing a number of ARB 4×4 accessories that could also be headed for the next-gen HiLux expected for 2025.
This is what Toyota’s press release teases: “Developed from the ground up for those seeking extended adventures, Tacoma Trailhunter will build upon Toyota’s legendary off-road and overlanding credibility with purpose-built engineering and robust components. Stay tuned for more.”
Accessories that fit both Tacoma and HiLux? This could be a new and very interesting development, given how the former was a larger version of the latter.
And why not? Right now, they would fit squarely into the burgeoning so-called ‘Wilderness’ craze sweeping many North American trucks and SUVs, including the titular Subaru Forester version that started it all Stateside back in 2020.
Though Toyota has not expressly stated this as so, it is widely accepted that the coming Tacoma and HiLux will share much technology underneath including petrol-electric hybrid powertrains, and might even merge to be much the same vehicle overall – including down to size, body, interior and specification.
This is as a result of the two mid-sized trucks adopting the TNGA-F Toyota New Global Architecture – Frame (as in body-on-frame construction) truck platform, that debuted two years ago in the wildly-successful LandCruiser 300 Series and a little later in its Lexus J310 LX luxury offshoot.
Since then, TNGA-F has found its way underneath the aforementioned latest Tundra (XK70) and Toyota Sequoia (XK80) full-sized ute and SUV respectively in North America.
Additionally, while the next-gen Tacoma for 2024 will be the TNGA-F’s first mid-sized outing, it certainly won’t be the last, with the coming HiLux to also be joined by the next-gen Prado and maybe even Fortuner employing the same tech. We’ll have to wait and see about that.
Considering Australia’s insatiable demand for larger utes, streamlining Toyota’s mid-sized truck offerings into a single related entity seems to make sense.
So, where is the Trailhunter intended to sit within the Tacoma (and maybe HiLux) range?
We’re envisaging this as Toyota’s answer to the likes of the Ford Ranger Wildtrak X, overseas-market Ford Ranger Tremor and Nissan Navara Warrior, amongst others, giving the company a leg-up in the aforementioned wilderness craze.
Along with a raft of typical 4×4-orientated upgrades including extra ground clearance, beefier bodywork, additional LED lighting, more-rugged tyres and suitably wilderness-evoking badging, the 2024 Tacoma Trailhunter accessories developed and produced by Melbourne-based ARB 4×4 Accessories in conjunction with its North American division include a steel rear bumper bar and tow hook.
In a Toyota USA press release, the bumper is clearly stamped with the ARB logo, as is the tow hook that’s finished in a lurid red paintwork.
Will more accessories for future midsized TNGA-F-based Toyotas follow? Almost certainly, considering ARB’s many contracts with OEMs, such as Ford and its latest Ranger and Everest models. And, of course, ARB already supplies the J300 LandCruiser.
CarsGuide reached out to ARB in Melbourne for comment on the Trailhunter and what this may mean for Toyotas in Australia including the HiLux, but a spokesperson declined to divulge any further information, except to say that the project involved ARB’s North American outfit.
Not that the company is shy about it, with ARB posting a photo of the Trailhunter and a link to the Toyota USA teaser shot on social media today in Australia, with the following caption: “The trail is calling… Details coming soon on the all-new 2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter.”
Is this the first fruit in a banquet of ARB-made and supplied accessories for the Tacoma, and can we expect the same for the 2025 HiLux in time?
Stay tuned, as more information will be revealed closer to the Tacoma’s mid-May unveiling date.
Keyword: 2025 Toyota HiLux Trailhunter, anybody? Look out, 2023 Ford Ranger Wildtrak X and Nissan Navara Warrior, Toyota confirms Australian ARB connection with next-gen 2024 Tacoma ute