Photo: Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota's American subsidiary is preparing for yet another important off-road 4x4 SUV reveal - the 2025 Toyota 4Runner mid-sizer is coming all-new on April 9, 2024, following an uncharacteristically short teaser campaign.
The Japanese automaker had some stellar results across the US automotive market after the first three months of the year – the Q1 sales of 565,098 vehicles, due to a very solid 20.3% growth on a volume basis, were inch-close to GM's negative performance of minus 1.5% and 594,233 examples. So, what could help it jump over the fence and send General Motors in the rear-view mirror?
Why, the answer is simple – yet another popular old-school off-road SUV, of course. After a very successful 2023, when Toyota introduced all-new things like the N400 Tacoma mid-size pickup truck or the family-oriented three-row Grand Highlander and saw the rise to fortune of all of its hybrids, 2024 is shaping up as yet another big year for the Japanese automaker.
Over at Lexus, there's the fashionably ritzy yet rugged 2024 Lexus GX 550 for anyone wanting a twin-turbo V6 with 349 hp under the hood. Toyota is rocking the trails with the 326-horsepower hybrid 2024 Land Cruiser, a legend that's now twinned with the GX in America to make it nimbler and a lot more affordable than the previous generation or the international J300 Land Cruiser.
Obviously, where there's space for two mid-size off-road SUVs, there are plenty of trail markings for a third – the 2025 Toyota 4Runner is, at long last, getting renewed with a new iteration. The original was introduced globally in 1984, so it's only logical that a new generation comes right when the company is celebrating the nameplate's fortieth anniversary! It has had five generations until now with the model codes N60 (born in 1983), N120/N130 (1989), N180 (1995), N210 (2002), and N280 (2009).
Given the progression, it's easy to notice that the first four iterations needed around six or seven years to reach their intended markets, but the fifth one was allowed more than double that! Also, the sixth generation will most likely receive the N380 model code to tie into the heritage and signal its relationship with the N400 Tacoma.
How do we know that an all-new 2025 Toyota 4Runner is finally coming to America? Well, Toyota kicked off the teaser campaign on social media on March 28 with a slide of the initial five generations and a sixth photo depicting the rear detail of the 4Runner script on the all-new iteration. It was dressed in blue paint with satin gray accents on the body cladding, and it already exhibited its practical nature with a Toyota-branded tow hook accessory.
Exactly a week later, on April 4, the second teaser dropped to even more overwhelming appreciation – the first snippet got over 54k likes in a week. In contrast, the second and possibly the final one got past 57k in less than 24 hours since it arrived! After waiting more than a decade and a half to bring out a new 4Runner, Toyota at least gave us a very short pre-release marketing campaign for the latest iteration - the 2025 Toyota 4Runner mid-sizer is coming all-new on April 9.
That also means there aren't so many things that we can confirm about the new SUV. Judging by the teasers and what has become tradition, the off-roader is getting back the powered rear window. However, some fans won't be pleased to see that – at least in the variant depicted by the company – the 4Runner is not getting a much-needed feature to bring the fight to the Jeep Wrangler (38,308 units delivered in Q1, plus one percent) and Ford Bronco (24k sales, a drop of almost 26%). That would be the detachable roof/soft top.
On the other hand, we can easily speculate that Toyota will allow the new 4Runner to continue its sibling relationship with the mid-size Tacoma pickup truck. That much is clear because the teaser video featuring the powered rear window also showed a massive tablet-style infotainment screen put smack in the middle of the dashboard – and it mimics the N400 Tacoma layout pretty darn well. In fact, both will probably share the TNGA-F body-on-frame architecture, ensuring the 4Runner will remain a rugged, boxy, monster off-road vehicle.
In fact, we might not have seen the front of the 4Runner because it's too similar to that of Tacoma and people might have mistaken one for the other. However, the bigger problem here is that Toyota needs to make sure the 4Runner doesn't cannibalize with the returning Land Cruiser SUV as both are mid-size models sharing the same underpinnings (which are also used on the Sequoia and Tundra or the Lexus GX, by the way). Most likely, the Land Cruiser will remain a five-seat affair, while the 4Runner will probably retain its additional two places in the trunk.
It's also going to be the less powerful and more affordable option, most likely. While the 2024 Land Cruiser kicks off at $55,950 and is exclusively powered by a 326-hp inline-four hybrid powertrain (i-Force Max), the 2025 Toyota 4Runner will probably start around $41 or $42k (the current model has a base MSRP of $40,705) and make use of Tacoma's i-Force inline-four with 278 horsepower. It's not much of a gain over the 4.0-liter V6 with up to 270 horsepower, but the real kicker here is switching from the obsolete five-speed automatic transmission to a modern eight-speed auto box from Tacoma, and maybe it will even get the latter's six-speed manual for purists to rejoice.
Why, the answer is simple – yet another popular old-school off-road SUV, of course. After a very successful 2023, when Toyota introduced all-new things like the N400 Tacoma mid-size pickup truck or the family-oriented three-row Grand Highlander and saw the rise to fortune of all of its hybrids, 2024 is shaping up as yet another big year for the Japanese automaker.
Over at Lexus, there's the fashionably ritzy yet rugged 2024 Lexus GX 550 for anyone wanting a twin-turbo V6 with 349 hp under the hood. Toyota is rocking the trails with the 326-horsepower hybrid 2024 Land Cruiser, a legend that's now twinned with the GX in America to make it nimbler and a lot more affordable than the previous generation or the international J300 Land Cruiser.
Obviously, where there's space for two mid-size off-road SUVs, there are plenty of trail markings for a third – the 2025 Toyota 4Runner is, at long last, getting renewed with a new iteration. The original was introduced globally in 1984, so it's only logical that a new generation comes right when the company is celebrating the nameplate's fortieth anniversary! It has had five generations until now with the model codes N60 (born in 1983), N120/N130 (1989), N180 (1995), N210 (2002), and N280 (2009).
Given the progression, it's easy to notice that the first four iterations needed around six or seven years to reach their intended markets, but the fifth one was allowed more than double that! Also, the sixth generation will most likely receive the N380 model code to tie into the heritage and signal its relationship with the N400 Tacoma.
How do we know that an all-new 2025 Toyota 4Runner is finally coming to America? Well, Toyota kicked off the teaser campaign on social media on March 28 with a slide of the initial five generations and a sixth photo depicting the rear detail of the 4Runner script on the all-new iteration. It was dressed in blue paint with satin gray accents on the body cladding, and it already exhibited its practical nature with a Toyota-branded tow hook accessory.
Exactly a week later, on April 4, the second teaser dropped to even more overwhelming appreciation – the first snippet got over 54k likes in a week. In contrast, the second and possibly the final one got past 57k in less than 24 hours since it arrived! After waiting more than a decade and a half to bring out a new 4Runner, Toyota at least gave us a very short pre-release marketing campaign for the latest iteration - the 2025 Toyota 4Runner mid-sizer is coming all-new on April 9.
That also means there aren't so many things that we can confirm about the new SUV. Judging by the teasers and what has become tradition, the off-roader is getting back the powered rear window. However, some fans won't be pleased to see that – at least in the variant depicted by the company – the 4Runner is not getting a much-needed feature to bring the fight to the Jeep Wrangler (38,308 units delivered in Q1, plus one percent) and Ford Bronco (24k sales, a drop of almost 26%). That would be the detachable roof/soft top.
On the other hand, we can easily speculate that Toyota will allow the new 4Runner to continue its sibling relationship with the mid-size Tacoma pickup truck. That much is clear because the teaser video featuring the powered rear window also showed a massive tablet-style infotainment screen put smack in the middle of the dashboard – and it mimics the N400 Tacoma layout pretty darn well. In fact, both will probably share the TNGA-F body-on-frame architecture, ensuring the 4Runner will remain a rugged, boxy, monster off-road vehicle.
In fact, we might not have seen the front of the 4Runner because it's too similar to that of Tacoma and people might have mistaken one for the other. However, the bigger problem here is that Toyota needs to make sure the 4Runner doesn't cannibalize with the returning Land Cruiser SUV as both are mid-size models sharing the same underpinnings (which are also used on the Sequoia and Tundra or the Lexus GX, by the way). Most likely, the Land Cruiser will remain a five-seat affair, while the 4Runner will probably retain its additional two places in the trunk.
It's also going to be the less powerful and more affordable option, most likely. While the 2024 Land Cruiser kicks off at $55,950 and is exclusively powered by a 326-hp inline-four hybrid powertrain (i-Force Max), the 2025 Toyota 4Runner will probably start around $41 or $42k (the current model has a base MSRP of $40,705) and make use of Tacoma's i-Force inline-four with 278 horsepower. It's not much of a gain over the 4.0-liter V6 with up to 270 horsepower, but the real kicker here is switching from the obsolete five-speed automatic transmission to a modern eight-speed auto box from Tacoma, and maybe it will even get the latter's six-speed manual for purists to rejoice.
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