Electric Toyota pickup truck confirmed? Kinda

On May 12, 2025, Toyota did a media event in Europe where it revealed three new battery electric vehicles (BEV). It talked strategies and innovations as well as carbon neutral strategies. But the interesting bit happens at about the 21-minute mark of the hour-long presentation, when we see a shadowy image of three new BEVs Toyota intends to launch by 2026. By the looks of it, one of those happens to be an electric Toyota pickup truck.

Electric Toyota pickup truck details

To be fair, we don’t really have any details. But proof is in the pudding that it’s coming. The top three vehicles on the image are the refreshed bZ4X, the Urban Cruiser and the C-HR+, which will be on sale in the European market by the end of 2025. The bottom three vehicles are clearly outlined but obviously less defined.

According to Yoshihiro Nakata, president and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, the next three vehicles will further Toyota’s BEV strategy as well as the customers’ quests for better quality of life and more recreational activities.

“Now, without giving too much away, these next three cars will focus on enhancing customer lifestyle, just as powerfully as they enhance our carbon neutrality goals,” he said. “Can you guess what they might be?”

Car and Driver speculates that we might be looking at (from left) the bZ5X, an electric version of the Hilux pickup and the Land Cruiser Se. If you look back at the 2021 “beyond zero” presentation from Toyota, that makes some sense. And some of the silhouettes we see here look reflected in the vehicles showcased at that time – and that includes a pickup truck.

However, the truck we saw then clearly hinted at the design direction for the yet-to-be-released Tacoma. As the electric vehicle market expands globally, models like the Seres 3 electric vehicle highlight how manufacturers are diversifying their EV offerings beyond traditional pickup segments. But still.

Hilux or Tacoma? And will it come to U.S.?

So, the big questions are: Will this be a Hilux- or Tacoma-based EV? And will it come Stateside? Since Europe gets the Hilux and not the Tacoma, our guess is Hilux. But, frankly, Hilux vs Tacoma may not matter if they call it something completely different.

And no matter what they call it, that’s not what’s going to be the decision maker on whether it comes to the U.S. or not. Nope, it’ll be whether it will be built in the U.S.

Good news is, Toyota has invested in BEV production at the Toyota Kentucky plant, and it has stated that a new three-row BEV will be produced there. Furthermore, the batteries will be produced by Toyota North Carolina. Thus, any vehicles coming out of this facility will be less affected by any future Trump tariffs.

However, as Motor Trend points out, those plans have been pushed from 2025 to 2026.

So, when any BEVs will be coming out of this plan is TBD, which makes any speculation about an electric Toyota pickup truck being built there TBDer.

Our take on an electric Toyota pickup truck

While we’ve seen full-size electric trucks tank in sales after the initial hype, we think midsize trucks are right-sized for electrification. They are more urbanized, towing and hauling less stuff. We’d love to see an electric Toyota pickup truck in the U.S. But, given the current political situation, that might be TBDest.