2027 Toyota Highlander First Look: Electrical, Greater, and Extra Luxurious

February 11, 2026

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All-electric powertrain with as much as 338 hp
As much as 320 miles of vary
Launches late 2026/early 2027

There’s an excellent probability you personal a Toyota Highlander or know somebody who does.

The Highlander has been one of the in style midsize 3-row household automobiles on the highway for many years. Household residing is the large precedence for the 2027 Toyota Highlander. Familiarity is just not – this staple SUV is totally reinventing itself for a brand new era.

Now out there as an electrical car (EV) solely, the 2027 Highlander takes the whole lot you recognize and love concerning the earlier generations of the Highlander and elevates it. The match, end, and really feel of the cabin, the expertise underpinning each side of the automobile, the drivetrain, and the security techniques — all really feel dramatically improved.

Powertrain & Stats

So what’s totally different? The whole lot! Beginning with the transition to all-electric, the Highlander might be out there at launch in both single-motor front-wheel drive (FWD) or dual-motor all-wheel drive (AWD) type. Two battery pack sizes can even be out there: a 77-kWh and a 95.8-kWh model.

The FWD mannequin will solely be out there with the smaller pack. It generates 221 horsepower and 198 lb-ft of torque from its single front-mounted motor. The AWD model will get the identical entrance motor, however provides a second on the rear. That brings complete system output to 338 hp and 323 lb-ft of torque.

If these output numbers sound acquainted, that’s as a result of they’re the identical as you’ll discover on the C-HR and the usual bZ (not the Woodland variant). Each battery variants can cost from 10-80% in 30-33 minutes, due to the bigger battery permitting a barely greater common cost fee. Toyota hasn’t but disclosed the Highlander EV’s precise most charging fee in kilowatts.

Relying on the drive and battery configuration, vary runs from 270 miles on the minimal (AWD fashions with the smaller battery) to a most of 320 miles for AWD fashions outfitted with the bigger battery pack. Entrance-drive fashions are good for a quoted 287 miles of vary.

2027 Toyota Highlander First Look: Electrical, Greater, and Extra Luxurious — Picture by Jordan Schiefer

Design

Past the powertrain, your complete physique and cabin are totally different, too. Gone is the previous Supra-inspired swoopy design language, changed by a extra fashionable, tech-forward look with crisp, clear traces and geometric particulars.

The Highlander EV is a few inches longer general and a few inches wider than earlier than. However its roof sits 0.8 inches decrease. Floor clearance seems about the identical as on the earlier Highlander (8 inches), though Toyota hasn’t but finalized that determine. The largest change to the format is the wheelbase, which grows by 8 inches, offering a marked improve in second and third-row legroom.

The inside, likewise, will get an entire visible redesign. Within the higher-spec fashions, it swings towards extra luxurious supplies and sensibilities. It’s an excellent factor Lexus is regularly upping its recreation, as a result of this Toyota seems prefer it’s about to catch up.

Tech and Options

Toyota will initially supply two grades of the Highlander: the XLE and the Restricted. The XLE is accessible with FWD or AWD, whereas the Restricted is, effectively, restricted to AWD.

There aren’t quite a lot of choices for both mannequin other than a towing bundle and an elective bench seat (captain’s chairs are customary) on the XLE AWD – however not the XLE FWD.

For each grades, the middle display screen is 14 inches, with a 12.3-inch driver instrument show. Each fashions additionally get 64-color ambient lighting that ties into the security system to information the occupants in an emergency – an fascinating concept we’ll have to analyze as we spend extra time with the brand new Highlander. Each fashions additionally supply vehicle-to-load (V2L) expertise, with as much as 1,500 watts of output. That system would require the acquisition of further tools, with extra particulars anticipated nearer to gross sales launch.

Upgrades with the Restricted trim embrace a head-up show (HUD), reverse-tilt aspect mirrors, ventilated entrance seats, and heated second-row seats (heated front-row seats are customary on each grades), plus rear sunshades, a self-parking system, lane change help, and extra.

An 11-speaker JBL audio system is accessible as an improve on each grades. Highlander XLE fashions include 19-inch wheels, whereas Restricted fashions can go for 19-inch or 22-inch wheels. The Restricted additionally gives a two-tone paint job with a black roof.

Normal in all variations of the brand new Highlander is Toyota Security Sense 4.0, the most recent iteration of Toyota’s security {hardware} and software program, promising noticeable upgrades within the pre-collision system’s performance, in addition to improved full-speed-range dynamic cruise management, lane departure help, and automated high-beams.

Picture by Jordan Schiefer

Ought to You Wait For The 2027 Highlander?

The 2027 Highlander received’t attain retail sale till the tip of 2026 or the start of 2027, in accordance with Toyota. Which means you’ll have to attend almost a yr from now if you wish to get your palms on Toyota’s first 3-row EV out there within the U.S., which is kind of a very long time to attend in case your present household transportation wants changing. Must you?

That’s a query that’s prone to be answered by your partner or household earlier than the yr is up. However on logic alone, in case your present car nonetheless has life left in it, it might make sense to attend for the all-new Highlander EV.

Pricing hasn’t but been introduced, however Toyota is hitting very aggressive worth factors (even within the absence of federal incentives) on its newest EVs, and we anticipate that pattern to proceed with Highlander.

And whereas we now have but to drive the brand new electrical Highlander, we now have pushed a lot of the underlying drivetrain in different Toyota EVs, so we anticipate it to be absolutely ample, if not fairly thrilling, given the Highlander’s higher measurement and mass as the biggest of Toyota’s EVs to this point.

When you’re intrigued by Toyota’s full overhaul of the Highlander, keep tuned for extra info as we anticipate pricing and additional function particulars to drop over the approaching months as its retail launch attracts nearer.