Toyota Japan releases all-new Harrier

Although mostly unknown in the local market, the Toyota Harrier has been around for more than 20 years. Toyota has been producing the crossover SUV since 1997, originally only available for the Japan. By 1998, Toyota exported the Harrier under the Lexus badge, naming it Lexus RX until its departure from the market in 2013. Aside from the latest North American release under the Toyota Venza badge, the Harrier has been mostly Japan-exclusive. Recently, the company decided to update the crossover SUV, making it more stylish and modern than ever.

Exterior

From the outside, the new Harrier looks like a proper SUV from the modern era. The fully redesigned front fascia gives the car a sharp and aggressive look, all while maintaining its air of elegance. The Harrier is fitted with all new signature projector LED headlamps, a new grille design, long, sweeping body lines that accentuate the bold and wide styling of the vehicle, dual exhaust pipes, and LED light strips that give the rear end a futuristic look. The Harrier also comes with three wheel sizes: 17-inch five spoke aluminum wheels, 18-inch, 10-spoke aluminum, and a 19 inch-aluminum wheel.

Interior

The interior is the Harrier is sophisticated and elegant, with its low contrast browns, grays, and black. The center console is wide and imposing, reminiscent of a horse's saddle. It blends with the instrument panel set within the edges of the saddle to present an interior design that is both rugged and classy. The cabin is wrapped in tactile synthetic leather to create the image of a natural-looking silhouette wrapped in thick leather, and bentwood-inspired 2 wood tones and piping throughout. The T-Connect SD navigation system uses a 12.3-inch TFT wide touch-display screen.

The Harrier supports smartphone-connectivity functions such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and comes with a JBL premium sound system, with 9 speakers all throughout the cabin.

Also equipped in the new Harrier is a panorama roof with electro-chromatic windows, used for the first time by Toyota. The windows use a large sheet of electro-chromatic glass that covers the front seats and as far as back as overhead for the rear seat passengers. The glass dims automatically with the push of a button, instantly wrapping its passengers in a dim cocoon.

Safety Features

The new Harrier comes with Toyota Safety Sense, which employs a pre-collision safety system that detects pedestrians during the day and at night, as well as cyclists during the day. It is fully equipped with safety equipment such as Intelligent Clearance Sonar with Parking Support Brakes that helps reduce damage from collisions during low-speed driving in parking lots, etc.

The Digital Inner Mirror, used for the first time by Toyota, enables recording of images to the front and rear of the vehicle while driving. The new Digital Inner Mirror with an added front-facing camera, coupled with the existing rear-facing camera for the Digital Inner Mirror, can now record driving video on SD cards.

The hybrid variant of the Harrier will feature a 100-volt (alternating current) / 1,500-watt accessory power outlet. This not only allows the use of electrical products using the same electrical outlets found in the home, but also enables the vehicle to be used as a power generator during blackouts and other times of emergency.

Powertrain

The all new Toyota Harrier is available with two different powertrains: hybrid and gasoline. Hybrid models feature the Toyota Hybrid System that uses a 2.5 liter Dynamic Force Engine. The gasoline variant features a 2.0 liter Dynamic Force Engine combined with a Direct Shift-CVT. 

Pricing

Pricing for the all new Toyota Harrier Gasoline model starts at JP¥2.99 million (P1.4M) for the base model S Grade variant, and goes up to JP¥4.43M  (around P2M) for the top of the line variant with Leather package. For the Hybrid powertrain, the Harrier starts at JP¥3.58 (P1.7M) for the base model S Grade variant, and goes up to JP¥5.04 (P2.4M) for the top of the line variant with Leather Package installed. 

In the Philippines, the current-generation Lexus RX ranges from P4.378M to P5. 178M. 

Photos from Toyota Japan

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