Are the folks from Toyota taking any breaks? At the rate the company has been launching cars lately, we’re inclined to believe that the people over there are running on heaps of caffeine. And just when you thought the Yaris Cross was the last Toyota model that will be launched here this year, think again.
An eagle-eyed car spotter recently, um, spotted yet another Toyota that’s set to be rolled out in the country soon. That model is the next-generation Alphard, and it was seen inside the Port of Batangas recently. With that, it looks like the Philippines will be one of the first to get left-hand drive models, and among the first to receive export market versions of the vans.
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Apparently, we bought that many Alphards over the years.
The specs are still unknown at this point, but one thing is for sure. This generation of Alphard will be the first without the familiar 3.5-liter V6 engine. Toyota is slowly retiring its non-turbocharged V6 engine, meaning the local-spec Alphard will likely get a hybrid or a turbocharged four-cylinder.
Given Toyota’s all-out assault on the hybrid market at the moment, we reckon the Philippine-spec Alphard will, at the very least, have a gas-electric version. If so, the local Alphard could pack a 2.5-liter Atkinson Cycle four-cylinder that produces a total system output of 247hp. Sure, it’s not quite as powerful as the 3.5-liter V6, but the thirsty six-banger can only dream of the hybrid’s claimed fuel economy figure of up to 17.5 km/l (mixed).
Launch date? Well, there’s no official confirmation just yet. But given that there is at least one unit in the country, we could expect the local launch before the end of 2023. As for pricing, that’s still up in the air. That said, the current model stands at P4,160,000, so expect the all-new model to be higher than that.
More images of the Toyota Alphard 2024:
