- Toyota is testing a Corolla Cross-based pickup truck prototype in Brazil.
- It’s rumored to debut in 2027 with ICE, hybrid, and flex-fuel PHEV options.
- A US-market unibody pickup could utilize the larger RAV4 platform.
The unibody compact pickup segment has spent the last few years proving there’s real money in trucks that aren’t really trucks, and Toyota has decided it wants in. Just not in North America, at least not yet. A camouflaged prototype has been caught testing on public roads in Brazil, and the shape underneath the wraps is hard to mistake. Think Corolla Cross, but with a bed grafted to the back.
The images come from BlogAuto, which filmed the dual-cab prototype on a Sao Paulo highway. From the windshield forward, it is essentially a Corolla Cross, headlights and all. It looks like Toyota might have stretched the body to make room for the bed, and most of that added length sits in the rear overhang rather than between the axles.
More: Toyota’s Next Corolla Cross Is Growing Up, And The RAV4 Should Be Worried
The rest of the details fill in the picture. Boxy wheel arches, a beltline that climbs toward the rear, and roof rails that taper into small spoilers. The tailgate is a big one, complete with an integrated step, and the taillights appear to run the full width of the body in the manner of the Crown Signia.
Spy Shots: Fabiano Mazzeo / BlogAuto (posted with permission)
That a running prototype is already on public roads points to a development program well past its early stages. The truck is expected to use Toyota’s TNGA architecture, reinforced where it needs to be to handle bed duty. That would put it up against South America’s growing crop of unibody pickups, the Fiat Toro, Ram Rampage, and Chevrolet Montana among them, with the VW Tukan and Renault Niagara still to arrive.
More: VW’s New Small Pickup Looks Like A Crossover With A Bed
Local reports suggest a powertrain menu built around a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter engine and a 1.8-liter self-charging hybrid lifted from the related crossover. The more interesting rumor is a locally developed plug-in hybrid with flex-fuel capability and standard E-Four all-wheel drive, which would be a genuinely Brazilian answer to a global formula.
Toyota is expected to pull the covers off the Corolla Cross-based pickup in the first quarter of 2027. Production will reportedly run out of the Sorocaba plant in Brazil, alongside the Corolla Cross that donates so much of its hardware. The pickup forms part of a R$ 11 billion ($2.2 billion) investment Toyota has committed to its Brazilian operations through 2030.
What About The US-Bound Truck?
The Brazilian sighting landed not long after Toyota Motor North America CEO Tetsuo Ogawa admitted the brand is eyeing the compact unibody segment in the US. The catch is that he did not point to the Corolla as the starting point. Ogawa named the larger RAV4 as the likely basis for a Ford Maverick rival, while admitting that such a project “takes time.”
Whether Toyota runs two separate unibody pickup programs or eventually folds them into a single global strategy is the open question. For now, Brazil gets the Corolla Cross truck and North America gets a maybe.
Thanks to Fabiano Mazzeo for sharing the images with us!
