CHICAGO — Toyota Motor is increasing its segment-leading, three-row crossover lineup with the brand new 2024 Grand Highlander, together with two gas-powered hybrid choices.

The automaker revealed the car as a much bigger sibling to the Toyota Highlander midsize SUV/crossover on Wednesday evening. It’s longer and wider than the Highlander and supplies 13.2 cubic toes of extra cargo quantity, in keeping with Toyota.

The car is the newest instance of automakers making an attempt to go greater and check their pricing energy as shoppers spend report quantities on new autos. The common worth paid for a brand new car to start this 12 months was almost $50,000, as automakers prioritize high-end fashions over entry-level fashions amid ongoing, but enhancing, provide chain issues.

Toyota didn’t announce pricing for the Grand Highlander, nonetheless analysts anticipate it to be above comparable common fashions that begin between $36,000 and $51,000. Will probably be supplied in three trim ranges when it arrives in dealerships this summer time.

The common worth paid for the present Highlander was greater than $46,600 — $48,801 for the hybrid — through the fourth quarter of final 12 months, in keeping with Edmunds.

The Grand Highlander provides to the rising three-row midsize crossover phase within the U.S., which has expanded from 12 nameplates in 2018 to 16 autos for 2023, together with the Grand Highlander, Edmunds stories. Different latest additions embody the Jeep Grand Cherokee L, the Hyundai Palisade and the Kia Telluride.

The Grand Highlander will compete in opposition to these autos in addition to the Ford Explorer, Chevrolet Traverse and different standard bigger midsize SUVs/crossovers. Such autos have turn out to be more and more standard — with gross sales up 4% from 2018 to 2022 — as Individuals have moved away from giant sedans and different autos.

Ivan Drury, Edmunds’ director of insights, mentioned shoppers are more and more three-row crossovers as alternate options to minivans, that are ergonomic however have confronted stigmas of being uncool.

“All people needs a minivan however no one needs to confess it,” he mentioned. “Folks need third rows even when they do not use it.”

The Grand Highlander was revealed in connection to this week’s Chicago Auto Present. A number of auto manufacturers resembling Jeep and Volkswagen are anticipated to disclose specialty fashions that can possible push up costs.

The Grand Highlander, whereas greater than the usual Highlander, can be smaller than Toyota’s Sequoia SUV, which is produced by a truck-based, or “body-on-frame,” course of. That meeting gives larger utility however much less on-road consolation than a “unibody” course of utilized for vehicles and crossovers just like the Highlander fashions.

“The present Highlander is slightly bit smaller than the Palisade or the Traverse,” mentioned Stephanie Brinley, principal automotive analyst at S&P World Mobility. “You have obtained house for this. It is also not as ‘truckie’ because the Sequoia.”

The Highlander was one among Toyota’s best-selling autos final 12 months, at almost 223,000 autos bought. It was solely outsold by the Toyota RAV4 small crossover and Camry sedan. Brinley would not anticipate the Grand Highlander to be a significant quantity product, however mentioned it “rounds out” Toyota’s crossover lineup and offers prospects extra choices.

Edmunds stories the Highlander was the best-selling three-row midsize crossover/SUV within the U.S. final 12 months, beating out the Ford Explorer, Grand Cherokee L and Toyota 4Runner. It is also probably the most cross-shopped autos by shoppers within the phase, in keeping with Edmunds.

Toyota says the Grand Highlander will provide a set of lively security and comfort options in addition to 13 cupholders and 7 USB-C cost ports throughout the car’s three rows.

The SUV can be supplied with three completely different engines, together with two hybrids — setting it aside from a lot of its high opponents. The entry-level four-cylinder turbo fuel engine and V6 hybrid are presently obtainable on the Highlander. The highest-end V6 Hybrid MAX will produce 362-horsepower and 400-pound toes of torque, Toyota mentioned.

The hybrid Grand Highlanders observe Toyota’s total technique of providing a mixture of conventional fuel engines, hybrids and all-electric autos because it pushes towards carbon neutrality by 2050.

“This three-row mannequin takes the Highlander legacy to a wholly new house whereas additionally retaining our promise to ship on electrification,” Lisa Materazzo, group vp of Toyota advertising, mentioned in a launch.

Toyota’s U.S. car lineup consists of 10 hybrids, two plug-in hybrid electrical autos and the all-electric bZ4X and the gas cell-powered Mirai.

The Japanese automaker has been criticized by some buyers and environmental teams for not shifting to all-electric autos extra rapidly. The corporate has argued that not all shoppers will transfer to EVs on the identical time and that it may produce dozens of hybrids with the identical quantity of carbon emissions as one all-electric car.

Toyota plans to take a position roughly $70 billion in electrified autos, together with $35 billion in all-electric battery applied sciences, over 9 years. It plans to supply about 70 electrified fashions globally by 2025.

Toyota — the world’s largest automaker — plans to promote about 3.5 million all-electric autos yearly by 2030, which might quantity to solely a 3rd of its present annual gross sales.