Imaginatively Redesigned Toyota Fortuner Works Even Better as a 4Runner Proposal

Toyota is aiming to recapture the sales lead from General Motors, and since the beginning of the year, it has issued a barrage of novelties including the Prius Prime plug-in hybrid, an entire array of Nightshade passenger cars and crossovers, the Corolla Cross Hybrid, a trio of GR special editions (GR86 Trueno, GR Corolla Circuit, GR Supra 45th Anniversary), as well as a good number of superstars.

Among them, we could easily count the 2024 Grand Highlander three-row family-oriented crossover, the N400 Tacoma mid-size pickup truck, plus the 2024 Land Cruiser. And that's not all, considering the newly minted 2024 Lexus GX 550 or the potentially upcoming 'Land Hopper' compact off-road SUV that's rumored to launch during the Japan Mobility Show at the end of the month.

However, that's not the only iconic model in Toyota's lineup – let us not forget about the venerable 4Runner, a genuine rival for the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco, even if the Japanese automaker hasn't launched a new generation since 2009. Well, the sixth iteration is certainly not coming out for the 2024 model year because the company subtly updated it based on the N280 backbones, including with a new TRD Sport trim package.

Anyway, that's not the only old, mid-size off-road SUV in Toyota's lineup. While the 4Runner is based on the (ancient) Tacoma architecture, some international markets get the Toyota Fortuner (or SW4), a mid-size SUV produced since 2004 based on the Hilux pickup truck platform. Naturally, with all the commotion around the brand's tough off-roaders, a lot of people are also thinking about the Fortuner's potential arrival as a third-generation model, right?

Well, that includes the rumor mill and the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Meet the good folks over at the Q Cars channel on YouTube, who aim to daze and amaze the audience with a potential styling of their vision for the redesigned Fortuner SUV. It's based on AI-assisted renderings, which is also the main reason why all POVs feature slightly different SUV design projects – there are always at least two main heroes with slight differences between them.

Interestingly, we quickly found out that these AI-styled Toyota mid-size SUVs based on pickup truck platforms were quite easily interchangeable with the channel's previous designs of the potentially upcoming next-gen 4Runner for America. So, how about they decide on a single styling, and then they try to persuade Toyota that it's in its best interest to unify the Hilux and Tacoma nameplates into one single entity alongside their Fortuner and 4Runner siblings, all based on the modular TNGA-F body-on-frame platform that also underpins other great models like the Land Cruisers, Sequoia, or Tundra?