Toyota is set to add a new member to its popular HiLux family.

The success of the limited edition TRD HiLux, which is aimed at the premium Ford Ranger Wildtrak and Volkswagen Amarok Highline, has encouraged the Japanese brand to add a premium offering above the SR5 on a permanent basis.

Toyota Australia sales and marketing chief Tony Cramb told Drive the company was happy with the performance of the TRD package and admitted it exposed an area of the market, for premium utes at the $60,000 mark, that the brand could exploit. Currently the top-of-the-range HiLux is the SR5 4x4, priced from $54,390 (plus on-road costs) leaving room for the brand to expand upwards.

"That part of the market is on fire," Cramb said. "At this stage we don't have something to offer into that segment of the market so the special edition has been really well received."

But the TRD packaged model is unlikely to continue, instead the company could introduce a new model to compete against the Wildtrak.

"What it opens the door to is possibly variants into that higher-grade section," Cramb added. "Whether TRD is represented or not, time will tell, but definitely we're very aware there is a market above the SR5 that we're not playing in that we need to play in. It's essentially what it is, a tip-toe to see if it's applicable to HiLux and that's been overwhelmingly confirmed, so the direction for us to go in is clear."

Cramb acknowledged the success of the Ford Ranger is also playing a role in the decision. The blue oval's ute is out-selling the HiLux in the 4x4 class so far in 2017. The latest VFacts report from May has the Ford at 14,114 sales, 912 units ahead of the HiLux 4x4.

"I think Ranger is an excellent product offering into that market, particularly in 4x4," Cramb said. "From an overall point-of-view we're not necessarily concerned, but from a 4x4 point-of-view they're clearly doing very well.

"And part of that success is from the variants we don't offer, the higher grades like the Wildtrak… those sorts of things are where we're getting beaten."

Ford Ranger Wildtrak. Photo: Mark Bean

Cramb also spoke about the company's future plans for the TRD brand and accessories. Despite the success of the HiLux TRD it will remain a limited edition model and played down the chances of more TRD specials.

Instead he indicated it would remain primarily a parts and accessories program across the brand but with a focus on the HiLux.

"We're not necessarily thinking TRD at this time, broadly," he said. "We're not looking to go back to the TRD experiment many years ago. There's nothing along those lines but TRD has proven to be very successful from a merchandising point-of-view so we'd be silly to ignore it."

He added: "For us that manifests itself mostly for us in HiLux. But, as you say, there are opportunities across other variants for performance based branding."

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