Wild Toyota HiLux concepts break cover in Thailand

The Thailand division of Japanese car giant Toyota has shown off a fleet of boldly-styled HiLux concepts – but don’t expect the modified dual-cab ute concepts to arrive in Australian showrooms anytime soon. Or ever.

Ahead of last month’s Bangkok Auto Salon – a motor show known for showcasing modified vehicles with wild body kits – Toyota collaborated with a handful of car customisation companies to build a set of unique HiLux utes (known as the HiLux Revo in Thailand).

Of the five Toyota HiLux concepts at the motor show, two featured off-road equipment for the popular ute.

The Toyota HiLux Revo ‘54th’ is a wide-body, futuristic-looking version of the ute currently available in showrooms, with larger bumpers, wheel arches, mirrors and 20-inch wheels – shod in huge 285/55-proifile mud-terrain tyres.

Its toned-down sibling is the Hilux Revo ‘Hi-Performance and Style’, featuring slightly less extreme off-road focused modifications such as larger-than-standard wheel arches, different 20-inch wheels and a louder exhaust for its 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine (not the 2.8-litre diesel in high-grade models in Australia).

Possibly the most extreme Toyota HiLux on show was the ‘Revo Dragster’, a concept which received multiple upgrades to its 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine which Toyota claims can produce more than 373kW (or 500 horsepower) ‘without difficulty’.

Compared to the high-riding, off-roading HiLux show vehicles, the Dragster sits low and is designed to go fast in a straight line – though Toyota did not estimate how fast it can complete the industry-standard quarter-mile (402-metre) dash.

Toyota Thailand also revealed the Revo Twin Turbo concept, believed to be one of the first examples of a new HiLux with two turbochargers – rather than the single-turbo setup found in all Australian-delivered models.

A number of engine software and mechanical upgrades to the 2.4-litre diesel engine have increased its power to a claimed 224kW – or almost 60kW more than the most powerful diesel HiLux in Australia, the upcoming GR Sport, which has a 2.8-litre four-cylinder diesel engine.

In Australia the 2.4-litre diesel engine is available in the base-model WorkMate, with outputs of 110kW and 400Nm – compared to the 150-165kW and 420-500Nm of the 2.8-litre engine, depending on the model it's fitted to.

Toyota’s fifth and final HiLux concept at the Bangkok Auto Salon was the Revo Z-Runner, which wears fewer upgrades than the other vehicles on show, such as aftermarket wheels, side steps and unique stickers.

While the Toyota HiLux has been the best-selling new vehicle in Australia for the past seven years, its sales in Thailand are more than double those Down Under.

In 2022, Toyota sold 64,391 examples of the Thailand-built HiLux in Australia, representing about six per cent of new vehicles sold.

In Thailand, approximately 145,000 HiLux pick-ups were sold across the same period – second only to the Isuzu D-Max with 181,000 sales – with Toyota’s ute accounting for 17 per cent of the new-vehicle market.

As previously reported, the current-generation Toyota HiLux is due to receive the option of mild-hybrid diesel power from next year, ahead of an expected new-generation model scheduled for 2025.