The car manufacturer plans to focus on distributing the electric Hilux in Thailand, but also leaves open the possibility of exporting to other markets.
Main content Hide / Show Pure electric Toyota Hilux is tested in Thailand Electric Toyota Hilux opens its doors to Vietnam? Toyota benefits from hybrid cars
According to news agency Reuters, Toyota Motor is testing the all-electric Hilux pickup truck (BEV) to evaluate its performance in different conditions as the brand prepares for mass production of the vehicle.
Currently, pickup trucks account for more than 50% of total vehicle sales in Thailand, an important market for Toyota (where Toyota’s large-scale production facility is located), which is gradually being flooded by a wave of manufacturers.
Toyota Hilux BEV.
`We plan to produce the electric Hilux here,` Pras Ganesh, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Asia, told Reuters on the sidelines of the Future Mobility Asia summit.
Ganesh declined to provide details on pricing or production volumes of the Hilux BEV.
Not only Toyota, a rival Japanese automaker Isuzu Motors also plans to produce its D-MAX electric pickup truck in Thailand, according to information announced by the Thai government in March.
The electric Toyota Hilux will primarily target the domestic Thai market, but Ganesh said the automaker will also consider exports.
The Japanese automaker is testing the Hilux BEV for a variety of use cases in diverse road conditions and temperatures.
`The greater the range, the more batteries we have to put in it, which means the weight of the vehicle increases significantly, so the cargo carrying capacity is also reduced,` Ganesh said.
Being in the same Southeast Asia region as a `neighboring` country, Vietnam may be one of the next countries to receive this model.
According to Focus2move data, topping the list of the 10 best-selling car models in Southeast Asia in 2023 is the Toyota Hilux pickup truck.
Toyota Hilux sold 195,777 vehicles, sales far exceeding the remaining competitors. Ranked in second place is another pickup model, Isuzu D-max with sales of 148,020 vehicles. Among them, the Thai market
According to Reuters, following the pioneers in the electric vehicle industry, Tesla and BYD, has helped Toyota benefit from growing demand for hybrid vehicles, in the context of increasing consumer acceptance.
Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid.
Ganesh said Toyota expects hybrid vehicle sales to increase in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, where it faces increasingly stiff competition in the segment from price-point rivals.
In 2023, Toyota sold more than 30,000 hybrid cars in Thailand, contributing about 11.5% of its total vehicle sales in this country.
