Every new Toyota launched in South Africa in 2024 – and what’s coming in 2025

South Africa’s favourite car brand had a busy 2024, rolling out no fewer than nine new models to the South African market.

The launches spanned five SUVs and four bakkies, with prices ranging all the way from as low as R299,900 up to as high as R1,462,400.

Up first were the new Land Cruiser 76 and 78 station wagons, alongside the 79 bakkies, which landed in February already.

The 4×4 stalwarts underwent a modest visual update and saw the addition of a 2.8-litre, turbo-diesel powertrain into the line-up, which has quickly become the most popular choice in the line-up.

Toyota Land Cruiser 79

March saw the arrival of the new Hilux and Fortuner 48V derivatives, the first of their kind.

These entries feature a small mild-hybrid system attached to the aforementioned 2.8-litre mill for improved fuel economy and smoother acceleration, accompanied by a small bump in price, of course.

Things remained quiet until June, when the Japanese marque suddenly dropped three cars virtually all at once.

On the third day of the month, it launched the all-new Prado, on the 10th the new Hilux GR-Sport III, and on the 12th, the new Hilux Raider.

Toyota Prado

We all thought this was it for 2024, but Toyota still had one ace up its sleeves that it hadn’t told anyone yet.

In the last week of July, it took the wraps off the Starlet Cross, its new entry-level SUV in South Africa.

A rebadged version of the popular Suzuki Fronx, the Starlet Cross proved to be an instant hit with its stylish looks and competitive asking price.

Toyota Starlet Cross

Toyota was also supposed to introduce more units of the Crown crossover to the country in 2024, though whether it did or did not, we don’t know, as it didn’t announce anything to the public.

It may have done so covertly to avoid attracting too much media attention as the car is already rarer than hen’s teeth in South Africa, and it did say that if it’s able to secure more units for our market, it will likely only be a handful.

Fueling the possibility is the fact that there is a 2024 model year Crown for sale by an accredited Toyota dealer in KwaZulu-Natal with just 81km on the clock, while the next closest model has already racked up 3,500km.

Toyota Crown

A 2025 of note

While Toyota is only planning to announce its complete model introduction timeline at its annual State of the Motoring Industry event in January 2025, it has already confirmed two upcoming debuts.

The first of these will come from the Japanese carmaker’s luxury sub-brand Lexus in the form of the RZ, the brand’s first bespoke battery-electric vehicle.

The SUV comes with a 150kW motor between the front wheels with an 80kW unit at the rear, and it provides a range of between 375-450km.

It also debuts Lexus’ new steer-by-wire system which it claims is the “most advanced” of its kind to reach the market.

Lexus RZ

Throughout 2025, Toyota will follow suit with the unveiling of its own electric SUV, the bZ4X.

The particular model on the way to our shores will be the second-generation bZ4X and not the first-generation variant that is currently on sale in other countries.

The company has thus far confirmed it will have approximately 400km of driving range and will be undeniably “fun to drive,” however, little else is known about the SUV at this point in time.

Facelifted Toyota Corolla Cross Thai model

It’s also likely that the facelifted Corolla Cross will be arriving on our roads next year.

The new crossover was unveiled in Thailand in February this year with subtle cosmetic upgrades and several new creature comforts.

The Thai market was the first in the world in which the original Corolla Cross went on sale, which happened in July 2020, while South Africa received it in November of the following year.

Based on this timeline, the new model should show face sometime within the first half of 2025.

Another thing to look out for next year is the expected reveal of the next-generation Toyota Hilux.

It’s widely anticipated that the new bakkie will be revealed to the world in the latter months of 2025 before its commercial rollout commences in 2026.

Toyota Tundra

Finally, Toyota filed trademark applications in South Africa for no fewer than 11 nameplates throughout the course of 2024.

These include badges such as the Alphard, bZ3C, bZ3X, Highlander, Kluger, Proace, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, Vellfire, and Vista.

While the trademark documents aren’t definitive proof that any of these cars will go on sale locally, it will still be worth paying attention to potential news and announcements surrounding them.