Photo: Toyota
Apparently, the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander goes hand in hand with the Nintendo Switch. Once the SUV hits the stores this upcoming summer, 500 lucky customers will also get a Nintendo Switch OLED model, together with a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. And no, the variants won't be donning that sweet red, white, and blue color scheme, nor the Switch stickers to go with your actual console.
The whole philosophical idea behind this partnership is that, just like the portable gaming console, you can also take your future 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander anywhere. Although just one of them is fit to go through water and mud, so mixing them up might not be the best idea.
Another message the two companies were trying to relay is that the Grand Highlander isn't just a regular SUV, but a family SUV, just like the Nintendo Switch is a family entertainment system. Lisa Materazzo, group vice president of Toyota Marketing, said: “This is an amazing collaboration between Toyota and Nintendo. The Grand Highlander and the Nintendo Switch are the ultimate duo for families and road trips.”
During the Chicago Auto Show, Toyota decided to honor this marketing marriage with Nintendo and showed a gamified version of the SUV. It looks like a blend between the Switch and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. If, by any chance, you're in the area, you can go see it until February 19. The good news is that you can hop in the car and play Mario Kart on the console installed inside.
While it might sound surprising to hear about this partnership, if we take a closer look at Nintendo's recent marketing trend, we'll notice it's nothing shocking at all. In roughly two months from now (April 7), The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be hitting theaters and it seems that currently, the promotional machine behind it does its job extremely well.
Just last week, SNL made a spoof trailer and joined the worlds from The Last of Us HBO show and Mario Kart in a superbly produced 3-minute video. Not even six days after it was released, the trailer already gathered almost nine million views. This partnership was a stroke of marketing genius because The Last of Us is one of the most successful shows HBO has ever produced.
Nintendo doesn't shy away from great advertising. Otherwise, the family console wouldn't have recently jumped into the fourth position of the best-sold video game consoles of all time charts, with over 117 million units, according to VGChartz. If that doesn't sound impressive, remember that the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip inside the Switch was first released in 2015, so it's basically running on 8-year-old hardware.
Now getting back to our family SUV, the 2024 Grand Highlander is set to come with three powertrain options. The first has a 2.4-liter turbocharged engine, the second is a 2.5-liter hybrid, and finally, for those who want to get the most out of it, there's the 362 horsepower (367 ps) Hybrid MAX option. The latter also comes with 400 lb-ft (544 Nm) of torque.
Unfortunately for those eager to get behind the wheel of this thing, Switch or no Switch, there is no definitive release date or pricing for the time being. The only window Toyota has mentioned is "later this summer."
Another message the two companies were trying to relay is that the Grand Highlander isn't just a regular SUV, but a family SUV, just like the Nintendo Switch is a family entertainment system. Lisa Materazzo, group vice president of Toyota Marketing, said: “This is an amazing collaboration between Toyota and Nintendo. The Grand Highlander and the Nintendo Switch are the ultimate duo for families and road trips.”
During the Chicago Auto Show, Toyota decided to honor this marketing marriage with Nintendo and showed a gamified version of the SUV. It looks like a blend between the Switch and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. If, by any chance, you're in the area, you can go see it until February 19. The good news is that you can hop in the car and play Mario Kart on the console installed inside.
While it might sound surprising to hear about this partnership, if we take a closer look at Nintendo's recent marketing trend, we'll notice it's nothing shocking at all. In roughly two months from now (April 7), The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be hitting theaters and it seems that currently, the promotional machine behind it does its job extremely well.
Just last week, SNL made a spoof trailer and joined the worlds from The Last of Us HBO show and Mario Kart in a superbly produced 3-minute video. Not even six days after it was released, the trailer already gathered almost nine million views. This partnership was a stroke of marketing genius because The Last of Us is one of the most successful shows HBO has ever produced.
Nintendo doesn't shy away from great advertising. Otherwise, the family console wouldn't have recently jumped into the fourth position of the best-sold video game consoles of all time charts, with over 117 million units, according to VGChartz. If that doesn't sound impressive, remember that the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip inside the Switch was first released in 2015, so it's basically running on 8-year-old hardware.
Now getting back to our family SUV, the 2024 Grand Highlander is set to come with three powertrain options. The first has a 2.4-liter turbocharged engine, the second is a 2.5-liter hybrid, and finally, for those who want to get the most out of it, there's the 362 horsepower (367 ps) Hybrid MAX option. The latter also comes with 400 lb-ft (544 Nm) of torque.
Unfortunately for those eager to get behind the wheel of this thing, Switch or no Switch, there is no definitive release date or pricing for the time being. The only window Toyota has mentioned is "later this summer."
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