Not content with releasing a high contrast, nearly blacked-out photo or rendering of its upcoming fourth-generation Highlander, Toyota decided to go all artsy-fartsy. In place of a single image, Toyota commissioned an artist to create a 3D art installation made up of 200 individual panels.
Buyers, however, will be more interested in the actual, physical vehicle, which makes its debut on April 17th at the New York Auto Show. A sales stud, Toyota’s three-row midsizer promises a new platform and slightly sexier flanks.
It’s certainly not hard to make the Highlander sexier. Toyota’s boring-but-safe styling kept buyers in an emotional Goldilocks Zone for years — just what the automaker needed to reap major sales.
Last revamped for the 2014 model year, the Highlander is the midsizer to beat in a market consumed with lust for the bodystyle. U.S. sales rose from a recession-era low of 83,118 vehicles in 2009 to 244,511 in 2018. Despite its advancing age, the Highlander continues to sell in great numbers, even in a first quarter that saw overall Toyota sales drop 5 percent and the industry as a whole cool off significantly. Highlander volume fell just 0.5 percent over the first three months of 2019.
For 2020, the Highlander smoothes out the creases, adding some muscularity via fender bulges. Added style comes from a beltline that swings upward to meet the D-pillar. Beneath the crossover, Toyota’s K platform disappears, replaced by the stiffer TNGA architecture popping up throughout the brand’s unibody stable.
As Toyota didn’t have additional details to share of its midsize moneymaker, we’ll have to wait until the New York show to find out more.
[Images: Toyota]
I’m sure the customer base would love if there was some actual room behind the 3 row. That’s a place where Toyota has trailed most of the competition for years.
Not me. I actually like that it is smaller. Third row will not likely be used in my car, like 364 days per year
Toyota will offer same or lower level of performance powertains, maybe even eliminating the V6 entirety!
Source?
3.5 V6 is to Toyota as SBC is to GM. (And almost as ubiquitous.)
“3.5 V6 is to Toyota as SBC is to GM. (And almost as ubiquitous.)”
Don’t I wish.
As long as the V6 is still in the Camry and Avalon, it’ll be in the Highlander
The upcoming Sienna will not have the V6 though, so it’s not out of the question that the Highlander does the same.
2.0Ts in cars, I get, grudgingly. But putting that into a mid-sized minivan or S/CUV is asking for trouble!
(The Acura RDX, for example, though a bespoke platform, is roughly the size of the CR-V. If they tried that with an MDX, big mistake!)
Looks like it is going to have exactly same powertrain. In fact, it mostly going to be same car only on different platform. I would say, 80% chance, there will be same wheelbase
Nice! One the few fuel efficient SUVs that can tow 5000lb.
The original might be the single most boring thing on the planet, never mind most boring car. The current one, actually looks pretty good.
Before 2015, the Highlander was a looker. The 2015 to 2019 is a styling disaster. I am surprised it sells as well as it does. This 2020 model seems to be a huge improvement. Rumor is it looks like the Rav4, which is a great looking vehicle. If that is true, Toyota has a winner. The 2020 Explorer pictures also look good. 2020 will be interesting.
I don’t know if I would call the 2nd gen a “looker” – it is fairly anonymous and I own one. It would be a nice blank canvas to build a “Wagon Queen Family Truckster, Mark II”.
I like the 1st iteration of gen 2. when they went with these sticking out lights, it ruined it. I like wheels and rear lights in gen2.1 better also.
I have to respectfully disagree. I loved Gen 1 as well as the current model; the Gen 2 was really bland to my eyes.
I think, gen2.1 was very cohesive design, and I have pictures to prove it