Rumours of the demise of diesel appear to have been exaggerated, with the all-new Toyota HiLux to deliver not one, but two new diesel engine options to help it hold off stiff competition from the Ford Ranger, Kia Tasman, Mitsubishi Triton and Isuzu D-Max, according to new reports out of Japan.
According to Japanese scoop site Response, the new HiLux will debut in 2024, likely before a 2025 on-sale date, with the new-generation model to arrive with two diesel engine options.
The first will be 2.4-litre in-line four-cylinder turbo-diesel, which is expected to deliver a electrified hybrid option. The second, the site says, is a 2.8-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel, which may, or may not, be a version of the engine currently fitted to Australia's top-selling vehicle.
Either way, expect outputs to reach beyond the HiLux's current levels of 150kW are 500Nm.
The site goes on to describe electrification as "inevitable", pointing to hybrid tech appearing on one or both of those engine options, as well as a fully electric HiLux BEV appearing deeper into the vehicle's model life.
That electric ute would reportedly use a single electric motor to power the rear wheels, or a more powerful dual-motor setup for AWD models.
All of which ties in neatly with Toyota Australia's earlier comments that electrification is coming to its commercial fleet sooner rather than later.
"It makes sense that the LandCruiser, the Prado, the HiLux and other commercial vehicles are going to have to adopt some sort of electrification as we get closer to 2030," Toyota Australia's VP of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley, has told us previously.
Response says it has the scoop on the next HiLux's dimensions, too, claiming the new ute will measure 5355mm in length, 1860mm in width and 1800mm in height, keeping it smaller than the Tundra, and slotting underneath the Tacoma, too.
That would make it slightly longer and wider than the current-gen HiLux, which measures 5325mm in length, 1855mm in width.
Finally, the last scoop is that the new HiLux will adopt a 300 Series-style front end, with the new model to borrow the grille treatment from the GR Sport model to tie the brand's popular models closer together.
All will be revealed soon enough, but not too soon, with reports pointing to the HiLux being unveiled in full in 2024.
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