√Toyota HiLux SR5 to get major upgrade later this year
Australia’s top-selling vehicle – the Toyota HiLux ute – is poised to receive a number of important technology updates later this year, to keep fresh amid a new Ford Ranger and a resurgent Isuzu D-Max and Mazda BT-50.
The Toyota HiLux ute is set to receive a major upgrade later this year to keep pace with newer competition, according to information supplied to dealers ahead of running changes due to go into production in the coming months.
While all models in the Toyota HiLux range will come in for some attention from August production onwards – with showroom arrivals expected in October – the Toyota HiLux SR5 will get the biggest updates.
Top of the list of new features for the 2023 Toyota HiLux SR5: 360-degree camera, blind-zone warning, rear cross-traffic alert, and puddle lamps (instead of heated side mirrors).
More affordable variants of the 2023 Toyota HiLux 4×4 (SR Extra Cab and SR Double Cab) will gain 17-inch alloy wheels as standard (instead of black 17-inch steel wheels) and body-coloured door handles.
The Toyota HiLux has not previously been equipped with blind zone warning or rear cross-traffic alert, however such technology is standard across the entire range of the new Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50, and upcoming Ford Ranger ute.
It is unclear if the convenient and effective safety tech – blind zone warning and rear cross-traffic alert – will make it onto other models in the Toyota HiLux range.
For now, Toyota Australia has closed the order books on the Toyota HiLux Rogue and Rugged X (pictured below), pending an expected model-year upgrade later in the year.
Fitting such advanced safety aids adds a higher proportion of cost to price-sensitive models at the bottom of the Toyota HiLux range.
However, other ute manufacturers have found a way to fit such technology across their entire ute line-ups – including the budget-priced “traffic controller” versions.
Although the Toyota HiLux remains the top-selling ute in Australia – and the number one vehicle outright – it is now in the second half of its 10-year model cycle.
This generation Toyota HiLux was introduced in August 2015; if history is a guide a new-generation Toyota HiLux is due in 2025 or 2026.
In the meantime, Toyota is expected to continue to introduce annual running changes to keep pace with newer rivals.
The Ford Ranger will be brand-new from June 2022 and the Isuzu D-Max and Mazda BT-50 are just two-and-a-half years old.
Without important annual updates, the Toyota HiLux is at risk of being outgunned in the coming years.
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