The Japanese automaker is currently preoccupied with electrified stuff rather than sportiness, in the United States. But that is only in the real world, whereas the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has other plans – like combining them.
Toyota – just like most of its rivals – has already reported the first quarter deliveries, and the news isn’t great. At the regional level, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) sales for Q1 were down almost nine percent against the same period in 2022. Meanwhile, the best-selling Toyota division fared even worse, as it dropped almost 11% “on a volume and DSR basis.” No worries, though, as the prospects are more positive going forward.
The brand just revealed the starting MSRPs for two of its most important electrified cars – the 2023 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid and the 2023 Corolla Cross Hybrid crossover SUV. Moving forward, they are also going to occupy another spot in the big SUV business with the upcoming 2023 Grand Highlander three-row family CUV, cater to adventurers with the impending ‘Trailhunter’ options, and also launch a new iteration for their best-selling mid-size pickup truck.
In the real world, all eyes are peeled for the slightest hint of the 2024 Toyota Tacoma’s official reveal, but the parallel universes of virtual car artists have already moved on to more pressing concerns, such as finding out which is the next installment in the Gazoo Racing ‘GR’ series after the GR Yaris, GR86, GR Corolla, and GR Supra. And, although all these are sports cars or hot hatchbacks, some folks like to think that a fully-fledged GR model could also arrive from the CUV dimension.
At least that may be the opinion of Dimas Ramadhan, the digital automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, who has taken up the task of revealing the next GR model - in CGI Grand Highlander attire! That is right, folks, a three-row performance crossover. But do not be surprised, as we should all remember that the 2023 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat already exists, complete with a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 under the hood and happily churning out no less than 710 horsepower.
Sure, a 2025 Toyota GR Grand Highlander probably wouldn’t compete with that limited edition. Instead, although the pixel master quirkily envisioned the behemoth three-row CUV with the odd triple exhaust from the GR Corolla, we bet that it would not sport a 1.6-liter G16E-GTS turbo inline-three mill under the hood. After all, the stock Grand Highlander already has a 362-hp Hybrid Max electrified assembly as the top OEM choice.
As such, the only logical course of action for a GR Grand Highlander would be to throw in the i-Force Max from the 2023 Sequoia and Tundra (possibly also the 2024 Tacoma) and maybe even give it a jolt to surge from a combined output of 437 horsepower to something along the lines of 500 or 600 ponies! That is a cool CGI thought, right?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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