New Highlander - There Can Be Only One

You’re a Highlander? Toyota’s new platform allows for a redefined look for the popular SUV.

- Alisa Priddle

Let’s play a guessing game. Is this a new Subaru? Maybe a zippy Mazda? Ford Explorer? Wrong, wrong, and wrong. This fresh new face is the 2020 Toyota Highlander, which abandons its benign family-hauler look and gets a complete makeover.

Moving the midsize SUV to Toyota’s TNGA global architecture, which underpins everything from the Prius, C-HR, and Corolla to the RAV4, Camry, and Avalon, was the perfect opportunity to redefine the Highlander.

Working with such a clean sheet, Toyota’s designers created a refreshing change for a vehicle whose popularity was based less on looks and more on Toyota’s reputation for safe, reliable, durable, and functional family vehicles.

Toyota wants to expand its base beyond families to include empty nesters and young, active buyers. That meant giving the Highlander a more powerful first impression and adding a little swagger.

Longtime Highlander drivers might not recognize this generation, with its vertical front end and a bit of a shark nose. A clearly defined grille with a geometric lattice design replaces the current slats—we applaud the decision to keep the grille size under control. Below is a lower grille with simulated skidplates. There’s more tension in the hood, and the LED headlights are sleeker. In other words, facial recognition would not trace it back to a Highlander.