Potent diesel and a possible petrol hybrid are presumed for 2023 Prado.

For a very long time, the Toyota Prado has been very good at going very slowly, over punishing off-road terrain.

Speed has never been a requirement for Prado. Toyota’s logic was simple: if you needed overtaking acceleration or dune driving ability, there was a 4-litre V6 petrol engine option. And the fuel consumption penalty was part of your choice.

Of late, this attitude has changed within the Toyota Prado product planning team. The latest Prado uses a 150 kW version of Toyota’s 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel engine. It delivers better performance than any previous diesel Prado.

But with the new Prado only months away from official reveal, Toyota followers are musing some very tasty engine options. Especially the promise of a proper super-diesel Prado.

Toyota’s Land Cruiser 300 is powered by an excellent new 3.3-litre V6 turbodiesel. Toyota doesn’t do new engine architectures often, and this 3.3-litre V6 will spread across – to other models. Like Prado.

The latest reports from Japanese media, like Best Car Web, indicate that the 3.3-litre V6 turbodiesel will be the lead engine, for new Prado. What its exact final specification will be, remains unclear.

Boosting 227 kW and 700 Nm, the most potent version of Toyota’s 3.3-litre V6 diesel would transform the Prado ownership experience. Delivering powerful overtaking performance, offset by fair cruising fuel economy.

Toyota will be mindful of the risks in creating a terrifically powerful diesel Prado. Being slightly smaller and lighter than Land Cruiser 300, the 3.3-litre V6 diesel Prado could be faster. This could trigger cannibalization risk, with customers simply opting for the Prado, to gain access to Toyota’s 3.3-litre V6 diesel engine, in a rugged off-road vehicle platform.

Then there is the question of hybridization, a necessary technology to lower the fleet average CO2 of large SUVs, such as Prado.

Toyota has a proven record of hybridization, but hybrid diesels don’t work as well as petrol models do as the low down diesel torque counteracts the benefits of immediate torque from electric motors.Could that mean an even more powerful Prado petrol-hybrid is in the works? Possibly.

Whatever the powertrain outcomes for new Prado, the acceleration numbers are sure to be surprisingly swift.

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