Toyota’s Crystal Ball for 2025

Toyota’s Crystal Ball for 2025

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Toyota’s SOMI (State of the Motoring Industry), a cornerstone event on the annual motoring calendar, again proved insightful, not just for Toyota but for the collective local motoring industry. Now in its 8th edition and hosted against the storied backdrop of Kyalami, this year’s SOMI presented with a mixed bag of cautious optimism, challenges, and the announcement of a series of new vehicles aimed at keeping Toyota at the top of the local sales charts. 

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As TSAM President and CEO, Andrew Kirby took to the stage for his keynote address, the tone was broad optimism with a reality check of the year that was. With new car sales numbers still trailing behind 2019 figures, Toyota optimistically predicted a 540,000-unit sales year for 2024, which, with the tallies now counted, proved overly positive with only 515,712 units finding new homes. This was also a considerable decrease from 2023 sales figures that registered 531,775. Still on the optimism train, Kirby slightly shifted expectations for the 2025 year with a collective 535,000-unit prediction for the SA new car market as a whole. 

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Kirby, though, wasn’t shy to point out that there are hurdles between a positively inflecting market rebound and what Toyota deems to be a scalable local motoring industry that shifts more than 600,000 new vehicles per annum. For one, local production remains a concern, with the sales of locally produced vehicles slipping from 46% in 2018 to 43% in 2023, while the newly announced 150% tax incentive for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) that’s planned to take effect in March 2026 still falls considerably short of what’s needed to propel mass adoption. 

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But SOMI wasn’t all about fiscal challenges and the ever-evolving hurdles faced by manufacturers within the uniquely challenging landscape that is South Africa, Toyota also showcased some vehicles that are scheduled to land on local soil in 2025 that could also present it with opportunity amid a uniquely South African car-buying landscape. 

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Toyota Corolla Cross

The update on the Corolla Cross, SA’s best-selling crossover, launched in conjunction with the annual SOMI, brings a redesign that better aligns it with Toyota’s new energy vehicle (NEV) push. It also receives an updated specifications list with more screen real estate and better connectivity across the range while also receiving a comprehensive safety brochure on upper-tier XR and GR-S derivatives. It retains its 1.8-litre naturally aspirated engine (1.8-litre + eMotor for hybrids) and CVT. 

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Toyota Fortuner GR-S

Toyota’s popular SUV, its Fortuner, gets another update short on the heels of its 48V injection. With the GR-S application, it gets GR-tinkered suspension, 18-inch GR wheels, GR-inspired Alcantara sports seats, and aluminium pedals, and naturally, since it so proudly wears the Gazoo Racing badge, a power uptick to 165kW from 150kW and 50 additional Newton-Metres at 550Nm. 

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Toyota GR Yaris

One of our favourite hot hatches, the GR Yaris, is getting an upgrade with infotainment updates, a vehicle stability control system, and a limited-slip differential for improved handling. In terms of going fast in a straight line, it also gets an 8-speed automatic transmission—as opposed to the current 6-speed manual—and naturally, more power. The hot Yaris will see a bump in power to 210kW (currently 198kW) and 400Nm, an increase of 40Nm from its current 360Nm. 

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Toyota Hilux Legend 55

While the announcement of yet another Hilux update, in this case, the Legend 55, is big news in itself, it’d be safe to assume that the launch of the brand-new Hilux is still some ways off. The Legend 55 will undoubtedly buy Toyota some more time among its loyal buyer market until it announces ‘the big one’ to the world that’s waiting with bated breath. While Toyota says that the interior of the Legend 55 will receive some love, it did confirm that it will come with a wide-body kit and wide tread, a bash plate, a roller shutter, a redesigned styling hoop, and a performance upgrade. 

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Lexus LX

On the Lexus side of Toyota’s local operations, the luxury carmaker will be bringing an update to its flagship SUV as well as the introduction of a 700h hybrid designation in what is expected to be February of this year. The hybrid series of the LX will produce 341kW and 650Nm of system power and will ship with the Lexus Safety Sense 3.0, which includes traffic sign recognition, emergency risk avoidance steering assist, as well as pedestrian detection and intersection support, which will enable the car to automatically apply brakes should it detect an oncoming hazard. Other niceties include massage seats for front and rear passengers for VIP, F Sport, and Overtrail derivatives, as well as auto parking built into the HEV model. 

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Lexus GX

Slotting beneath the flagship LX and prompting several smartphones to be equipped at the SOMI announcement was the Prado-sized GX, which, like the Land Cruiser variation, aims to seamlessly blend off-road capacity and luxury, just in an even more upmarket application. It will launch in SE (7-seater) and the more off-road-focused Overtrail (5-seater) trims, and, in the case of the Overtrail, will have a multitude of off-road-forward systems like E-KDSS for improved wheel articulation, Toyota’s Multi-Terrain Monitor, Crawl Control, and Multi-Terrain Select. The SE, on the other hand, will launch with 22-inch wheels and massage seats for front passengers. 

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