Toyota Teases New Midsize Hybrid SUV

Apparently, in 2023, you can’t have too many utility vehicles in your lineup if you’re Toyota. The automaker has just dropped another teaser for an upcoming model and unlike last week’s teaser image, we have the first hints of what this might be. The provided caption reads, “With All-Wheel Drive, this hybrid electric mid-size SUV goes beyond what’s expected. C u …soon.” That’s Toyota’s bolding of the word beyond.

The previous image only gave a hint about what the front lights would look like, a similar C-pattern to the new Prius. But we now know, this is an SUV which Toyota actually distinguishes from more car-based crossovers. Besides the HEV AWD badges on the lower left corner of the tailgate, there is a C visible just above the license plate pocket and with the spacing around it, this could conceivably be part of the Camry family. Except if it were part of the Camry we’d expect it to be called a crossover and midsize would put it somewhere among the Rav4, Venza and Highlander in size.

But since Toyota does refer to this as an SUV, is this a replacement for the long-running 4Runner? We are expecting a new 4Runner soon, based on the same platform as the new Tacoma. But that obviously doesn’t start with a C. We’re also expecting a Compact Cruiser for production soon, but that vehicle with styling inspired by the new big Land Cruiser is as the name implies supposed to be smaller and all-electric, not hybrid.

Then there’s the highlighting of the word beyond in the caption. The bZ in bZ4X does stand for beyond zero and is meant to include all electrified vehicles including hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell in addition to battery electric and this is definitely hybrid so it fits.

So is this a proper body-on-frame SUV with a hybrid powertrain that slots in just below the forthcoming new 4Runner? Perhaps as a Wrangler/Bronco competitor? Who knows? Probably not. Since they refer to this as all-wheel-drive rather than four-wheel-drive, I’m going with Crown family as a ruggedized, off-road capable machine similar in principle to the Ford Bronco Sport but larger. This would allow it to be distinguished from the Rav4/Venza while not being quite as hard-core as the 4Runner.

We’ll probably see two more teasers before this vehicle is likely unveiled at the LA Auto Show in mid-November.