Toyota India introduced the 2021 Fortuner facelift last week in the country. It has been merely less than a week since the new SUV went on sale but we have come to know that the next-gen Toyota Fortuner India launch will take place in 2022. Yoshiki Konishi, chief engineer, Toyota Motor Corporation confirmed to our friends at AutoCar India that the company will launch the new-gen Fortuner next year in the Indian market. Needless to say, it will come with a plethora of cosmetic updates and advanced features while a mild hybrid diesel powertrain could also be seen for the first time.
Speaking of next-gen 2022 Toyota Fortuner, it will be based on a tweaked version of electronic and electrical (ENE) platform. The current model's hydraulic power steering will go for a toss in favour of an electric power steering (EPS). “In the near future, we would like to introduce EPS (electric power steering), which will make the vehicle easier to drive. If we introduce EPS, we will need a big change in the electronic platform,” said Konishi. In addition, the new generation SUV will also boast of electronically-controlled Vehicle Stability Control (VSC). The present model also comes with this feature but Toyota will make several advancements in it to make it even better for different terrains.
Konishi further added that the new-gen Toyota Fortuner will debut Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) functions which were missing in the SUV till now. “We are on the way to introduce connectivity features step by step. The next generation of the Fortuner will have some additional items. It will have (greater) digitisation and ADAS,” added Konishi. It was also confirmed that Toyota has no plans to ditch the ladder-frame platform and the new-gen SUV, identical to the current-gen model, will be based on the same architecture. Mechanically, the company has made its mind to introduce a diesel-plus-hybrid system with the new-gen Fortuner in the wake of ever tightening emission norms in India.