Toyota has two new 3-row, 8-passenger SUVs in the works
They'll be built in Indiana and target active millennials with families.
Toyota has SUVs on the brain and plans to build two new ones in Indiana.
The Toyota Sequoia is old. I mean, it's practically ancient in automotive terms, with the current generation having debuted for the 2008 model year. It's time for the ol' three-row to get sent to a farm upstate, and, according to a press release from Toyota issued on Wednesday, that might be happening sooner rather than later.
Now, I say "might be" because in its press release Toyota stated that it has two new three-row, eight-passenger SUVs in the works, both of which will be built at the company's Indiana plant, but it doesn't directly call them replacements for the Sequoia.
These SUVs will be aimed at "the active Gen Y American Family," which we assume means millennials with kids because nobody says Gen Y anymore. We also know that one of the models will be badged as a Lexus . We're guessing that the Toyota model is meant as a Sequoia replacement because Land Cruisers are historically not built in the US.
Beyond that, Toyota claims that the two new SUVs will feature electrified drivetrains, which, knowing Toyota, likely means hybrids. They will also feature a hands-free driving system (we're guessing some kind of Level 2-plus system with driver monitoring) and a remote parking system that can be controlled from a smartphone, kind of like Tesla's Summon feature.
To help get its Indiana plant ready, Toyota has invested $803 million in the facility and will be hiring for an additional 1,400 jobs.
