All-New, Virtual 2024 Toyota Pickup Looks Like a Unibody Grand Highlander Truck

Dubbed as the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander, the upcoming SUV will soon spice up the mid-size three-row SUV segment with a competitor against the likes of Hyundai’s Palisade and Kia Telluride, Volkswagen Atlas, Jeep Grand Cherokee L, Chevrolet Traverse, and/or the Ford Explorer. It has an uphill battle in front of it, true, but also seems well prepared with the unibody TNGA-K platform under its belt, a cooler exterior and interior design compared to its smaller and older Highlander sibling, plus a bigger wheelbase and a trio of powertrain options, including the mighty, 362-hp Hybrid Max.

And, of course, Toyota is not lacking options in every car, SUV, and truck segment. But some people fell in love with the new Grand Highlander even before it got unleashed on the North American market, both in the real world as well as the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Speaking of the latter, Dimas Ramadhan, the virtual automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, has even taken up the task of revealing another Toyota truck – in CGI and based on both the Highlander and Grand Highlander.

We cannot be sure about the strategy of the pixel master, as there are no explanations aside from the title mentioning the creation of an “all-new Toyota pickup truck” for the 2024 or 2025 model years, but we can easily suspect that the gist of it would be to double the best-selling, rugged Tacoma jeopardy with a less-traditional model that could go toe-to-toe with other unibody models such as the Honda Ridgeline and thus better fend off any attempts at challenging Toyota’s mid-size pickup truck throne.

Interestingly, the CGI expert did not jump on board solely with the latest edition to the unibody mid-size crossover SUV family but, rather, opted for splicing into a single pickup truck creation, both the visage of the regular XU70 fourth-generation Highlander and the cooler rear of the Grand Highlander that will be made in the U.S., at the Princeton, Indiana-based TMMI (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana). As for the ‘regular’ Highlander, no worries – it can, too, get a little feistier or at least a bit fresher.

Also, courtesy of other representatives of these digital parallel universes, the Highlander – which has been around since 2019, can now stand its ground alongside its bigger ‘Grand’ sibling. Thanks to Jim (aka jlord8 on social media) and a fan suggestion, now we also have a sporty Highlander TRD variant to muse about. Then, the second video embedded below is proud to present MV Auto’s imagined 2024 or 2025 Toyota Highlander restyling. So, which of the three CGIs is cooler – the pickup truck, the ‘TRD by Gazoo Racing,’ or the facelift?