When Toyota said it would make high-performance versions of every single model in the lineup, it wasn't joking around. That was a little over a year ago, and last month the company said the GR and TRD performance sub-brands can peacefully coexist. But how serious is Toyota about launching hot derivatives of everything it sells? Very serious. Just look at its Japanese lineup of GR-badged models, with everything from a Prius to the Noah minivan.
Even the Hilux has already received the amped-up treatment courtesy of a limited-run GR Sport variant with styling and suspension upgrades, but the best is yet to come. A meaner GR variant has already been trademarked, and now we might now what the Ford Ranger Raptor rival is going to feature underneath the hood.
According to a report published by Australian magazine Cars Guide, the pickup truck is bound to get an all-new turbodiesel V6. The torquey engine is said to make its debut in the next-generation Land Cruiser 300 Series and will be installed in other Toyota products to spread out the development and production costs.
It remains a mystery at this point how much power the new diesel V6 will deliver, but Cars Guide believes it will likely at least match the 268 hp (200 kilowatts) and 650 Newton-meters (479 pound-feet) of torque generated by the current diesel 4.5-liter V8. Four-wheel drive is a given, along with suspension and chassis tweaks to turn the Hilux into a proper performance truck. It would likely use beefier brakes and adopt a more aggressive design derived from the aforementioned GR Sport.
According to our Toyota insider, the Hilux will switch to the next generation in 2023 and might merge with the Tacoma as one global model. The rumored GR derivative is expected to arrive during the model's current generation, and it will be interesting to see whether it'll end up as a limited edition like the GR Sport or a regular trim level above everything else.
