Toyota has one electric truck for global markets, but could it bring its second to North America?
“Something new is on the horizon.” That’s it, send tweet.
Update 2/2/2026: Well, it looks like this model is, in fact, a three-row SUV, based on Toyota’s latest teaser. Call it wishful thinking, but the bit below about it being a smaller truck doesn’t seem to be the case this time.
That’s pretty much what Toyota just did, teasing a brand-new model Tuesday morning to bemused onlookers everywhere. In good old teasing fashion, that is literally all the automaker said about this new vehicle. Is it an SUV? Is it a truck? We don’t know! At least not with absolute certainty (but the clever money is on truck, given what we can see of its profile in the image above).
As ever, we have to rely on some context clues to get some sense of what we’re looking at here. Technically, Toyota already has one electric truck, in the form of the Hilux BEV (also called the Travo-e in Thailand). The Japanese automaker has broadly been hedging its bets with hybrid vehicles, but it isn’t entirely forgoing electric vehicles moving forward. We also saw a smaller electric EPU concept last summer — something about the size of a Ford Maverick or Hyundai Santa Cruz — so Toyota could be about to make good on that earlier display.
On the truck side, something like a production-spec EPU could certainly be in the cards as Ford readies its own small, affordable electric pickup. The Blue Oval prominently announced its intent to build a $30,000-ish small truck by 2027, noting a shift in its electrification plan away from large (and eye-wateringly expensive) prospects like three-row SUVs to compete against the Rivian R1S, for example.
Smaller outfits like Telo and Slate Auto are also preparing tiny, relatively cheap electric trucks, so all these developments could buttress Toyota’s business case to compete in the segment. It already dominates with the midsize Tacoma, so why not take over a burgeoning segment before Ford and its startup challengers get a foothold, right?
Naturally, to say there are “few” details is a major understatement. What today’s teaser does signal, however, is that Toyota does have a new model in the works, and we will know more about it in the coming months. This is just to draw eyeballs and get tongues wagging, so keep both your eyes and ears peeled for further details.
Toyota is trying all sorts of interesting things out these days, including this IMV, which you can check out below:
