Toyota and Lexus need large 3-row people movers. Luckily they’re coming. Here’s everything we know about the GrandHighlander and LexusTX.
Toyota and lexus have been losing out in the large suv and crossover market that is until recently toyota’s all new 2023 sequoia looks to heat things up for seating up to eight standard hybrid power and efficiency and class leading technology lexus is riding high on demand for the land cruiser based lx 600 and its ultra luxury and f-sport offerings but it is not
Enough for the world’s largest automaker toyota and lexus both will be releasing two all-new three-row crossovers coming in the next year will they be grand enough to take the fight to jeep’s grand wagoneer or acura’s mdx what can these new crossovers offer join us as we dive into the details of toyota and lexus’s all-new three-row people-haulers that will shake up
The car industry large three-row people movers have never been toyota or lexus’s strong suit the sequoia’s land cruisers forerunners and highlanders throughout toyota’s history have never been able to take on the people-moving capacity of the suburbans and expeditions and now we also have the grand wagoneer and the onslaught of the koreans as well lexus has not
Been able to compete while the three row luxury people mover segment either the lx and gx have either been too expensive or limited in cargo and passenger capacity to compete against escalades navigators mdxs qx60 q7 gls and now the bmw x7 and the afterthought that is the lexus rx 350 l and 450 hl has been bought more times for the additional cargo capacity than
For its extra row of seats but the agony of large toyota and lexus families is coming to an end in 2023 with the toyota grand highlander and the lexus tx or so we think they’re called in april 2021 toyota announced two all-new vehicles coming from its indiana plant the plant in princeton is famous for producing the tundra at one point in time but also they produce
Now the sienna minivan fully hybrid mind you and the existing three-row highlander crossover the plant had previously assembled the sequoia before the behemoth set sails for the san antonio plant to be assembled alongside the all-new tundra pickup truck during this big announcement toyota shared that they are investing over 800 million dollars and adding over 1
400 new jobs to produce the all-new three-row suvs designed for the active gen y family aka millennials aka me and my beautiful girl-filled life this enormous investment is just icing on the cake for the total investment of 6.6 billion dollars into the indiana factory which has the capacity to build 420 000 vehicles a year for now toyota has delayed the naming and
Major details of these three large crossovers what they have confirmed so far is cutting-edge semi-automated driving systems this is likely the toyota and lexus teammate systems that are currently in use in the lexus ls and toyota mirai we will see a remote parking system that the owner can use with their phone outside of the car and there will be a digital key
Which can be shared with friends and family on their phones and we also have confirmation the vehicles will offer up to eight seats of course now make sure to grab your snacks and drinks and your salt shakers of course as we head down speculative lane and we connect the dots that toyota and lexus have laid out for us we still have yet to figure out what these
Three row crossovers will be called what platforms they’re on the turbo and electrified powertrains they’ll employ when they’ll be available and how much they will cost the naming seems to be pretty clear based off the united states patent and trademark office toyota has the grand highlander nameplate on lockdown which would make perfect sense as it’s going to
Be built in the same plant as the iranian highlander and grand because it will be bigger of course for lexus tx has been claimed tx is perfect because it references texas which is you know everything’s bigger in texas ironically it’s made in indiana anyways it has many additional numbers attached to it the tx350 the tx 500h the tx 550h plus and of course we’ll dig
Into which powertrains will be attached to each number and name shortly and there could be possibly a fourth bonus power plant as well assuming they’re called the tx and grand highlander at this point we can now nail down at their skeletal system also known as platform toyota has a slew of next generation platforms currently in use there’s the tiny b platform that
Supports the yaris griaris and euros cross and the japan exclusive aqua hybrid we can of course rule out the b platform for these large three row vehicles what about the c platform certainly too small as well with the likes of the prius corolla crew lacrosse chr and lexus ux being based on so let’s go big how about toyota’s body on frame f platform that underpins
The land cruiser 300 the lx the tundra the new sequoia future prado tacoma 4runner gx etc certainly not flexible enough it’s too heavy and we know the only f platform facility in america is in san antonio so that leaves toyota’s bread and butter at the k platform the k platform underpins the rav4 the venza nx es camry and of course the highlander in siena which
Are built on site in indiana the k platform is highly modifiable with wheelbases from the lexus nx and rav4 at around 105.9 inches all the way to the siennas at a whopping 120.5 inches i think it’s pretty safe to say we’ll see a wheelbase close to the cavernous minivans 120. now for my favorite portion powertrains what better way to detail the turbo and electrified
Powertrains than to head to our lovely spreadsheet my sources have said that we’ll have four powertrains on the lexus tx the grand highlander isn’t so clear what i can confirm is that the normal highlander will set aside the tried and true naturally aspirated v6 for the 2023 model year and employ a new 2.4 liter turbo 4 cylinder with horsepower and 317 pound-feet
Of torque it wouldn’t be a modern toyota though without at least one hybrid setup so if we look at the highlander hybrid and the sienna hybrid built there in indiana we can expect to see the same hybrid system producing 245 horsepower and around 35 miles per gallon these two base powertrains are just the beginning by 2030 toyota will be producing three and a half
Million battery electric vehicles that does not include hybrids or plug-in hybrids does that mean we’ll have a battery electric variant of this three-row crossover i don’t think so but it should not be ruled out for the second generation of these vehicles come around 2030. in the meantime plug-in hybrids should meet the needs of those seeking electric efficiency
And performance one option for a plug-in hybrid could be the rav4 prime setup with 302 horsepower and over 30 miles of ev range creating a grand highlander prime variant that large families have been asking for that gives us a total of at least three powertrains likely heading for the so-called grand highlander now for the fireworks in the lexus tx as previously
Mentioned four powertrains are likely let’s start without electrification the tx350 will receive the nx’s 2.4 liter turbo with 275 horsepower and 317 pound-feet of torque the other entry level powertrain will be the tx-350h with around 245 horsepower and over 30 miles per gallon now for the additional firepower tx 500h is trademarked and it’s very likely to use
The 2.4 liter turbo mated to an all-new hybrid system new for toyota that is they are rumored to use a single motor hybrid setup mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission this is a huge departure of the dual motor hybrid system that toyota has employed ever since the first generation prius instead of fitting an electric motor to the rear wheels as we see in the
350 h we instead should have a physical drive shaft powering the rear axle for all-wheel drive peak outputs of 370 horsepower with massive amounts of torque while i don’t see this powertrain as a lock for the toyota variant i see this as a perfect powertrain for the lexus f-sport badge now for the grand finale the range-topping plug-in hybrid powertrain for the
Tx-550h plus we don’t know exactly where toyota will source their battery from all their plug-in hybrids at this point in time are produced in japan alongside panasonic’s batteries and north carolina toyota should have a battery plant online by 2025 but these vehicles should be out in early 2024 for the plug-in hybrids but let’s just assume the 18.1 kilowatt hour
Battery pack from panasonic is carried over from the rav4 prime and nx plug-in hybrid we could be seeing over 30 miles of vv range on this big crossover and while the ev range is impressive the gasoline engine mated to the hybrid system is most surprising toyota is expected to employ a revised three and a half liter naturally aspirated v6 total power could be as
High as 405 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of torque this comes as a surprise as the base highlander for 2023 will be ditching the v6 altogether to me it makes more sense for toyota just to slot in the 2.4 liter turbo from the tx 350 for this plug-in hybrid and that could get us around 370 horsepower and even more torque than the v6 at 490 pound-feet and as much
Sense as that makes to me from my sources that doesn’t seem to be the case as they’re going with a modified naturally aspirated v6 now if we look at some european luxury plug-in three-row crossovers we can look at the defunct audi q7 with up to 450 horsepower now that has a turbo v6 which i don’t believe toyota will be going that route with their tx we can look at
The volvo xc90 recharge that has just been updated with a bigger battery to support 35 miles of ev range and a whopping 455 horsepower and over 520 pound-feet of torque the lexus gx550h plus with even a non-boosted v6 should provide fairly similar power and torque figures without the complexity of a turbo or in volvo’s case the complexity of a supercharger and a
Turbocharger on a tiny 2-liter four-cylinder so there you have it turbo four-cylinder naturally aspirated hybrid four-cylinder turbo four-cylinder hybrid and a strange naturally aspirated v6 plug-in hybrid which very well could be a f sport performance model for lexus should round out the power trains on the premium side and then looking at the grand highlander we
Could be seeing the turbo four cylinder the naturally aspirated four-cylinder hybrid and likely one of the two mentioned plug-in hybrids so when could we see these large people movers from toyota and lexus and in what sort of volume capacity and how much will they cost well i’m very confident we could see the grand highlander as early as may of 2023 and the lexus
To follow up in october of 2023 however with the disruptions in the supply chain worldwide we could see delays of a month or two for each model toyota can produce 420 000 vehicles from the indiana plant the highlanders sold over 264 000 units in 2021 and the sienna sold over 107 000 units in the united states alone that only leaves about 48 000 units combined for
The grand highlander and the lexus tx which could actually meet the demand of the first year of production but if demand surges for the larger three row vehicles toyota could easily reduce the volume on the standard highlander in order to meet the large vehicle demand pricing for the base normal highlander is a little over thirty five thousand us dollars so expect
The starting msrp in the low forty thousand dollar range for the grand highlander for the lexus tx we could easily see a ten thousand dollar premium so starting in the low fifties is what i’m expecting topping out around 75 to 80 thousand dollars for potential tx 550h plug-in hybrid f-sport performance model we’ll of course get the new toyota and lexus interface
With 9-inch or 14-inch touchscreens apple carplay and android auto will be wireless and standard and expect a heap of usbs and cup holders for each row of passengers so which of these huge three-row people movers are you most excited for is it the grand highlander or is it the lexus tx both are sorely needed in their respective lineups in today’s day and age if
You enjoyed today’s video please hit the like button subscribe for more japanese and korean auto news and reviews stay tuned as i will surely update you on the official announcements of both the grand highlander and the lexus gx and of course i will be driving both of these when we have media drives in the next year or so thank you so much for watching have a
Wonderful day take care of yourselves and peace out you
Transcribed from video
Toyota and Lexus' ALL NEW Enormous SUVs will DISRUPT the car industry… By Kirk Kreifels