The Japanese automaker Toyota had an impressive run last year in America when it finished second with 2.24 million vehicles behind General Motors, which delivered 2.6 million units to the market.
The company has many high-riding vehicles in its portfolio, including the best-selling RAV4 crossover SUV, which placed fourth on the list of America's best-selling nameplates with almost 435k units. However, there's also a growing emphasis on the rugged side of the family – where the all-new 2024 Land Cruiser resides alongside the equally fresh N400 Tacoma and the old-school 4Runner or the Sequoia and Tundra full-size siblings.
Alas, not all of Toyota's high-riding vehicles are offered in North America. For example, the Tacoma and 4Runner duet has an international correspondence in the Hilux plus Fortuner siblings. Of course, the best-known model of the latter two is the legendary Hilux – its Fortuner SUV counterpart arrived on the mid-size market since 2004.
An integral part of the Toyota IMV project for emerging markets, the Fortuner has two or three rows of seats, RWD or all-wheel drive configurations, and only two generations under its banner. The current one arrived in 2015 in places like Australia and Thailand. So, obviously, it is growing a little long in the tooth now that it's approaching a decade on the market.
No worries, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has already come up with a solution – this virtual artist, known as Theottle on social media, has recently resorted to CGI slicing and dicing the N400 Tacoma into an overseas off-road SUV. The pixel master decided that one of his latest behind-the-scenes making-of videos should focus on bringing the third-generation Fortuner to unofficial life.
However, as he used the styling of the all-new N400 Tacoma "to give the Fortuner a more boxy appearance akin to the Land Cruiser Prado," we also feel this overseas SUV project has precisely what it takes to come to America as the sixth generation Toyota 4Runner. In fact, that one has more than overstayed its welcome as the current N280 model is even older than the Fortuner – it was introduced at the State Fair of Texas during the fall of 2009.
So, what do you think – could Toyota bridge the gap between the N400 Tacoma and the next Hilux, which is also coming soon, and then proceed to mix and match the next 4Runner and Fortuner, too? That way, they could lower costs – as they will surely use the modular TNGA-F platform for the next Hilux, Fortuner, and 4Runner, just like on the N400 Tacoma. Or is this merely wishful thinking, and they will remain separate, yet again – even though it's not entirely sane from the economic standpoint?
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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