Toyota Multi-Pathway Powertrain Strategy Offers Customers Broader Choice of Hybrids

Toyota Australia has expanded its hybrid technology with a dual stream offering that provides customers with increased choice to ensure the right powertrain for the right application, vehicle and use.  Register your interest to be the first to view when it arrives in our showroom here. 

With over two decades of industry-leading hybrid experience delivering a hybrid system designed to improve efficiency, driveability, and lower fuel consumption and CO2 tailpipe emissions, Toyota is now also offering customers an alternative hybrid powertrain designed specifically to increase performance.

The performance hybrid powertrain has already been seen in the Tundra full-size pickup that went on sale in late 2024, and from early 2026, the same performance hybrid powertrain will be offered on the Sahara ZX and GR Sport grades of the LandCruiser 300 Series.

The two hybrid systems feature distinct differences with the efficiency hybrid that is now standard in Toyota’s entire passenger car and urban-oriented SUV range, except GR performance cars, being a Series-Parallel Hybrid System, while the performance hybrid is a Parallel Hybrid System.

Toyota Australia Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley said offering customers two distinctly different hybrid systems was part of Toyota’s multi-pathway approach to providing the right powertrain for the right vehicle and its use.

“Toyota has long been a pioneer in developing hybrid technology and we have driven its adoption in Australia for the past 24 years since we first launched the Prius here in 2001,” Mr Hanley said.

“Australian customers have fully embraced our efficiency hybrid system for its smooth refinement, substantial fuel savings, and lower CO2 tailpipe emissions, with sales of more than 570,000 Toyota hybrids since we launched the original Prius.

“With nine model ranges from the Yaris hatch to the seven-seat Kluger SUV now exclusively offered with our efficiency hybrid system, hybrids accounted for a record 48.9 per cent of our total 2024 sales.

“Now, with our performance hybrid system already powering the Tundra and soon, available in the LandCruiser 300 Series, Toyota is continuing to offer customers a hybrid solution that perfectly suits their needs and vehicle choice,” he said.

Toyota’s performance hybrid system is a parallel hybrid system that combines a petrol engine with a single electric motor-generator that can run in combination, capitalising on the instant torque and strong output of the electric motor to deliver increased performance, or individually, using the petrol engine or electric motor to drive the wheels.

Switching between electric and petrol power, or a combination of both is seamless and is controlled by the hybrid system’s power control unit.

With two power sources that can operate in tandem or individually, the performance hybrid system is able to deliver powerful, responsive and linear acceleration, high-speed cruising, and the strong torque needed under heavy load or when towing.

The single motor-generator is connected to a clutch that manages switching between power sources depending on the load and driver input, with the petrol engine constantly in operation at speeds over 30km/h.

Under 30km/h, the performance hybrid can operate on electric power alone, which is also used to enhance acceleration at higher speeds or under heavy load.

Drive torque, whether generated from the electric motor generator or petrol engine or both, is delivered to the driveline via a standard automatic transmission, which in the case of Tundra and the new LandCruiser 300 Series is a 10-speed unit with a lock-up torque converter.

Toyota’s efficiency hybrid system is a series-parallel hybrid system that like the performance hybrid system can operate using the combination of the petrol engine and electric motor generators working in tandem or individually to provide drive torque to the wheels.

The efficiency hybrid system consists of a petrol engine, two sets of planetary gears, two electric motor-generators, and a counter gear to drive the differential.

All-wheel drive efficiency hybrid models add a third electric motor-generator to drive the rear axle.

The first motor generator acts primarily as a generator to convert excess petrol engine power into electrical energy which is stored in the hybrid battery, as well as acting as a starter motor for the petrol engine.

The second electric motor generator is largely employed as a drive motor for the front wheels and also acts as a generator to capture kinetic energy during regenerative braking that is then fed into the hybrid battery.

The two planetary gear sets are integrated with the motor generators and act as a power split device to direct and blend power from the petrol engine and electric motor-generators to achieve the greatest efficiency based on load.

They also act as an electronically-controlled continuously variable transmission. By varying the rotational speed of the two planetary gear sets, the hybrid system mimics the operation of a traditional belt and pulley-type CVT providing seamless shifts in transmission ratios for the optimum performance, driveability and fuel economy.

Since its launch in the original Prius, Toyota has continued to evolve and refine its efficiency hybrid system and most current Toyota efficiency hybrid vehicles use a fifth-generation system that delivers superb fuel economy.

Petrol engines used for the hybrid system range from the three-cylinder 1.5-litre engine in the Yaris hatch to a four-cylinder 2.5-litre unit in RAV4, Kluger and Camry, the latter of which delivers an official combined cycle fuel economy figure of just 4.0L/100km¹.

Toyota is continuing to develop new hybrid technologies for efficiency and performance as part of its multi-pathway strategy and in 2026, will launch its first plug-in hybrid in Australia in the all-new RAV4.

1 Results were achieved under laboratory conditions and do not reflect the fuel consumption in real world driving. Results for Camry Ascent automatic 2WD sedan hybrid in ADR81/02 combined drive cycle fuel consumption testing. Urban cycle results achieved 4.0L/100km & extra urban cycle achieved 4.0L/100km. Results were produced using new sample vehicles without fitment of accessories/customisation, & may not be replicable.