Toyota's next must-have ute: Japanese giant could build a ute version of the 2026 Toyota RAV4 to sit under the Toyota HiLux and rival the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz

Toyota could be developing a little SUV-based ute in a throwback to the glory days of the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore utes, according to reports.

Toyota US’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark Templin, said: “We’re looking at it”, when quizzed about a small ute, according to The Japan Times.

Ford’s smash hit Maverick ute in the US has shown there is a big market for a small SUV-based ute — rather than ladder frame based workhorses such as the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger. Hyundai has also found success with its little Santa Cruz ute in the US.

Templin’s remark comes after it was reported the brand’s US dealers were asking for a competitor to the Maverick.

"We could really do well in that segment, so we’re trying to do it,” Cooper Ericksen, a senior vice president in charge of planning and strategy at Toyota Motor North America, said in a separate interview with The Japan Times. "It’s a matter of timing,” he said.

The Ford Maverick uses the same platform as the Escape and Bronco Sport SUVs, and the Santa Cruz shares its underpinnings with the Tucson mid-size SUV. This points to any future competitor from Toyota using the same base as the new 2026 RAV4, which was just revealed, so the timing could be right.

This opens the door to a hybrid and plug-in hybrid mini and affordable ute in both front- and all-wheel drive layouts.

Digital artist Theottle on YouTube, has shown just what a RAV4 based ute could look like in the above renders.

New plug-in hybrid versions of the 2026 RAV4 use a 2.5-litre petrol engine and an electric motor to make 201kW in the front-wheel drive versions and 227kW in all-wheel drive variants. A big 22.7kWh battery will provide an electric-only driving range of up to 100km according to Toyota.

Conventional hybrid power is available in the new RAV4.

It is available in two- and all-wheel-drive layouts and makes 143kW, which is 17kW and 20kW down on the current 2WD and AWD versions respectively. Toyota doesn’t provide total torque figures for its hybrid tech.

In another sign mini utes are taking off, even Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is trying to cash in, with the launch of the cut-price Slate electric ute.

The Slate it's a fully customisable tiny pick-up truck with a relatively mini price tag to match. 

 It can be modified and personalised in a multitude of ways, including turning it into an SUV.

It has reportedly racked up more than 100,000 orders already.

Don't hold your breath for these vehicles to land in Australia in the short term, but it is believed that Hyundai will bring the Santa Cruz Down Under sooner rather than later. This could open the floor gates to a wave of new SUV-based utes, including a future Toyota RAV4 based number.