Toyota Highlander EV.

Toyota is working on a brand-new generation of the Highlander SUV. And it will be an EV-only model.

They previously announced a new $1.4 billion investment in their Indiana factory for an all-new large 3-row EV SUV. But the new Highlander will be built in Kentucky instead. Where another 3-row EV SUV is also scheduled to be built. That second large model could be the production version of the great-looking Toyota Land Cruiser ES concept we saw a while ago.

Sales of the Highlander have been dropping dramatically since the introduction of the larger Grand Highlander. Which is about twice as popular as the Highlander.

The Kentucky SUV is expected to be built on a skateboard platform similar to the one used in the current bZ4x, or a newer version of that platform.

Toyota currently offers the Highlander and Grand Highlander, and it seems to be working fine. They are probably thinking of mirroring their EV lineup with 2 3-row SUVs of different sizes.

The smaller SUV, the Highlander EV, is scheduled to arrive early next year. While the larger model is scheduled for 2028. That means we will probably see the all-new Highlander EV later this year, maybe at the Los Angeles auto show in November.

the illustration above shows what the 2026/27 Toyota Highlander EV could look like.