Toyota Hilux Spotted In India, Launch Speculations Confirmed?

Toyota Hilux, actually multiple Hiluxes, have been spotted in India, which has further added fuel to the speculation fire that the Japanese automaker might launch the car in our market.

The spy shots were courtesy of MotorBeamer Kaydee and the cars were spotted on the Durgapur Expressway (NH2) in West Bengal.

It was only last month that reports stated that Toyota is considering launching its own pickup in India so as to grab a piece of the pie that is currently being entirely held by the Isuzu D-Max V-Cross at the moment.

If in fact Toyota is to produce the car in India, it would have many advantages, since the Hilux is built on the IMV-2 platform, which is the same one used to make the Fortuner and Innova. Further, powertrains, suspension components, 4-wheel-drive systems, among others, are also shared by with the pickup already.

This would help the carmaker keep costs in check, something it would have to do if it wants the product to sell well, since the segment it wishes to enter is pretty small to begin with.

Engine-wise, the Toyota Hilux spotted on our roads, when launched, would come with a 2.4-litre and 2.8-litre diesel motors. The units put out 150 PS, 400 Nm and 207 PS and 500 Nm, respectively.

Moreover, the pickup can go off the road pretty well as Toyota claims to have lowered the engine idling RPM, revised the stability control and fitted a new tyre angle monitor apart from providing the car with a higher towing capacity to the tune of 3500 kg for the 4×4 auto and 2800 kg for 4×2 auto variants.

Since the pickup will be positioned as a lifestyle vehicle, it is expected to come with features such as 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with voice recognition, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, satellite navigation, digital radio, a 4.2-inch instrument cluster, LED headlights with DRLs, among various others offered on the recently facelifted 2021 Hilux for the overseas market.

Finally, the Toyota Hilux is known to be among the most robust vehicles ever made on earth. The carmaker is expected to use that trump card to its advantage and price the pickup accordingly, since cost will literally make or break the product.