Toyota Kluger nameplate to continue in Australia, but no electric model confirmed for local market

Kluger future secured, but no EV for Australia

Toyota Australia has moved to quash speculation that the Kluger could be axed following the reveal of an all-electric successor in North America. Speaking with CarExpert, Toyota Australia vice president for sales and marketing John Pappas said: "The Kluger does very well for us in Australia, and we plan to continue that nameplate". He added that Toyota had nothing to confirm or announce about a battery-electric Kluger for the local market. ⁴

The same executive also told GoAuto, at a media event in Queensland, that the "Kluger nameplate will keep going, and we'll see basically what powertrain becomes available to us. Then we'll make the call based on that – what we take for our market." Toyota Australia has previously indicated it is willing to source vehicles from China, according to GoAuto. ¹²

When Toyota USA revealed the electric 2027 Highlander, Toyota Australia told CarExpert it had no plans to introduce a Kluger EV locally, with a spokesperson stating: "We have no current plans to introduce the Kluger EV in Australia. The Kluger Hybrid remains part of Toyota's Australian lineup." ⁵

The electric Highlander Australia cannot have

The 2027 Toyota Highlander EV was revealed in the United States as a three-row electric SUV rivalling the Kia EV9 and Hyundai Ioniq 9, succeeding the petrol and hybrid Highlander in North America later in the year. CarExpert reports the electric model shares its powertrains with the bZ4X and is built on an updated version of the current Kluger's TNGA-K platform, with front- or all-wheel drive. Confirmed outputs are 165kW/269Nm for front-wheel drive versions and 252kW/438Nm for all-wheel drive. ⁵

CarExpert details manufacturer-estimated range figures of 462km for the standard 77kWh battery in front-wheel drive form, 434km with all-wheel drive, and 515km for the larger 95.8kWh battery offered exclusively with all-wheel drive. A 10-80 per cent DC fast charge takes as little as 30 minutes, and the EV offers vehicle-to-load capability. These figures and specifications relate to the US-market left-hand-drive model only. ⁵

The new model is dimensionally larger than the outgoing Highlander/Kluger: CarExpert reports it measures 5049mm long, making it 99mm longer and 59mm wider than the outgoing model, offset by a 20mm lower roofline, while riding on a 201mm-longer 3051mm wheelbase. According to CarExpert, the electric Highlander also forms the basis of the new Subaru Getaway, a lightly restyled version exclusive to North America at least initially. ⁵⁴

Toyota Australia's John Pappas told CarExpert the right-hand-drive version of the electric Highlander is not available to the Australian market: "Regarding the BEV in the US, we're always looking at options regarding what is made available to us in Australia – that vehicle in right-hand drive is not available to us. If it ever does, we will always look at it." ⁴

A fork in the road for the 2027 Kluger

With US production of the fourth-generation Kluger Hybrid finishing, Chasing Cars reports Toyota Australia is yet to divulge which vehicle will wear the Kluger nameplate locally from 2027. One option is sourcing the current XU70 Kluger Hybrid from the GAC Toyota joint-venture plant in Guangzhou, China, where the model has been produced since late 2020 – a potentially cost-effective solution if the factory can build right-hand-drive hybrids. The other, more appealing but potentially more expensive option, is engineering a right-hand-drive version of the larger Grand Highlander built in Princeton, Indiana. ³

CarExpert also notes the Highlander/Kluger is produced in China by the FAW Toyota joint venture for the domestic market, where it is known as the Crown Kluger, meaning Chinese production of the current model is not limited to a single plant. Bearing on the Chinese-sourcing option, CarExpert reports that last year the GAC Toyota joint venture confirmed the next-generation Highlander for China will offer a range-extender EV (EREV) powertrain option as part of a strategy to better tailor core models for the Chinese market. It remains unclear, according to CarExpert, whether that EREV will be based on the new Highlander EV, the existing Highlander, or another vehicle altogether. ⁴

GoAuto describes a third, longer-term possibility: petrol-hybrid and plug-in-hybrid versions of the new Highlander EV, which shares the TNGA-K architecture with the outgoing Highlander/Kluger and Grand Highlander, giving it theoretical flexibility for powertrains beyond pure electric. Both outlets note Toyota has insisted the Kentucky-built new-generation Highlander will be electric-only, so any hybrid variant of it would be some time away. Toyota Australia has not announced which path it will take. ¹²³

Toyota Australia senior manager product planning and pricing Ray Munday made a specific point to GoAuto that the new BEV is not the only Highlander product built in North America: "So that Grand Highlander, sorry, Highlander BEV is not the only Highlander product from North America – that's (just) one product". GoAuto suggests this may hint at the hybrid powertrains available in the Grand Highlander. ¹²

Grand Highlander dimensions, powertrains and US sales

The Grand Highlander, launched in North America in 2023, is a stretched and widened version of the regular Highlander/Kluger – Chasing Cars reports it is 150mm longer, 60mm wider and around 25mm taller, riding on a 100mm-longer wheelbase. Its powertrains mirror the regular Kluger's: a 198kW 2.4-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder (discontinued in Australia in mid-2024) and the same 184kW 2.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid four as the current Australian Kluger Hybrid, with an eFour all-wheel-drive system. ³

Chasing Cars reports the Grand Highlander sold 136,801 units in the US in 2025 compared with 56,208 for the regular Highlander/Kluger, whose sales were down from a 264,128 record in 2021. GoAuto describes the Grand Highlander as a resounding success that has taken over from its smaller sibling as Toyota's main large SUV in the US, outselling the regular Highlander/Kluger by almost three-to-one in 2025. That popularity underpins both outlets' reasoning that any hybrid variant of the new electric Highlander would be some time away. ¹²³

North America also offers a flagship 'Hybrid MAX' performance version of the 2.4-litre turbo-petrol engine, which per GoAuto lifts combined power to 270kW and torque beyond 500Nm – a 'Performance Hybrid' in Toyota Australia terminology, akin to the Tundra and LandCruiser 300 hybrid. Should the Grand Highlander become the fifth-generation Kluger, GoAuto notes it would give Toyota Australia broad coverage of the medium-to-large SUV space. ¹²

Supply, sales and market context

Toyota Australia says it has enough stock of the existing Princeton-built Kluger Hybrid to comfortably see out the remainder of 2026, according to GoAuto. Production of the Highlander will shift from the Princeton, Indiana plant – which has built the Highlander/Kluger since 2007 – to a re-tooled facility in Georgetown, Kentucky dedicated to the new electric generation. ¹²

The Kluger remains a significant player in the Australian large SUV segment, with 8098 sales in 2025 as the direct petrol-electric rival to the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento, per GoAuto. CarExpert notes the fourth-generation Kluger has been on sale in Australia since 2021 and has been offered exclusively with hybrid powertrain since mid-2024, though it trails the LandCruiser Prado, which outsold it by more than three-to-one last year. ¹²⁴

The timing of the Highlander EV is notable given Toyota only recently began selling the US-built Highlander Hybrid in Japan as part of a trade-relations initiative, with the American-assembled SUV exported to markets including Australia and South Korea, CarExpert reports. Buyers in the US who want a three-row SUV without electrification retain the larger Grand Highlander, which is not offered in Australia. Toyota Australia has not confirmed timing or specifications for the 2027 Kluger. ⁴