Could Japan’s Toyota Harrier PHEV Preview a New Venza Hybrid SUV?

One of the downsides of following Japanese car companies is that sometimes they release vehicles in other countries that don’t come to the U.S. market. However, one of the upsides is that sometimes when a global model gets an upgrade in another market, it can be a preview of things to come. When cruising on the Toyota Japan website, we noticed that the automaker announced that the Harrier SUV would be getting a hybrid and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) trims that are set to release on October 31st.

The reason why this is interesting is because the latest Toyota Venza is just a re-badged version of the JDM Harrier made for the United States market. Before you ask, we also think “Harrier” is a much cooler name than Venza.

So if the Toyota Harrier is getting a plug in and PHEV trims in Japan and the Venza is the same vehicle, does this mean that the United States can expect a Venza Prime with hybrid and PHEV options? It makes a lot of sense for Toyota to release a Venza Prime PHEV in the U.S. market.

The automaker has promised to offer more electrified cars in its lineup to be more in line with possible mandates. Not to mention that the Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV and Lexus NX PHEV are both cars that are currently offered in the U.S. A 2023 Toyota Venza Prime PHEV would slot perfectly into the space between the $40k RAV4 Prime and the upscale Lexus NX PHEV.

We immediately reached out to Toyota to get answers. Unfortunately, we didn’t get exactly what we were looking for. The official response from Toyota is that there is “nothing to share at this time.” For those who want a Venza PHEV, the good news is that isn’t a “no.” It could be a “wait and see” in disguise. We’ll continue to bring this up with Toyota and as soon as we get a hint that a Venza PHEV is coming to America, we’ll let you know.


Source: Read Full Article