South Island engineering company Glacier International is to bring the 2023 hybrid Toyota Sequoia SUV from North America to New Zealand.
It will convert left-hook Sequoias to right-hand drive at its plant inside the innovation and technology facility at the Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell. The remanufacturing process, says company director Malcom King, has already begun.
“Prototyping is completed and injection moulding is already underway,” he said. “We will have 10 Sequoias available for 2023, the first of which will arrive early in the year.”
Five petrol-electric four-wheel-drive variants will be on offer, priced from NZ$205,000 to NZ$265,000. Each Sequoia runs a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission in combination with a single motor-generator powered by a 1.9-kWh nickel-metal hydride battery pack. Combined output, according to US figures, is 326kW/790Nm.
The flagship models are the TRDPro and Capstone. There’s little in the way of spec between the two, although the TRD Pro gets kit for off-road adventures, including upgraded Fox shock absorbers, a front skid plate, and locking rear differential. Braked towing capacity for both is 4-tonne.
The three-row, 2.8-tonne Sequoia is a big critter: 5.28m long, 2.02m wide, 1.97m high, bigger all round than the Toyota LandCruiser 300 but similar in size to the Nissan Patrol. The 2023 model is the third-generation Sequoia and is visibly sleeker than its bulbous predecessor.
Also arriving in NZ next year from Glacier’s network in North America is the 2023 Tundra pick-up truck, the chassis of which underpins the Sequoia, LandCruiser 300 and Lexus LX600. Tundra will also have Sequoia’s petrol-electric powertrain.
Both share common safety DNA – Tundra recently earned a top pick award from the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the only pick-up on the road in the US to be given such a rating.
King and his team began converting left-hook Tundras in 2019 with the top-spec Crewmax Platinum. It ran a 5.7-litre petrol V8 delivering 280kW and 544Nm through a six-speed automatic, a stronger rear differential and other mechanicals, to handle heavy loads. New Zealanders have bought 10 examples in the past three years, says King.
The Toyota-trained technician said each Sequoia conversion would take 240 hours to complete to “ensure they are indiscernible from the Original Equipment Manufacturers’ fit and finish.” Each gets an independent warranty and after-sales service.
“Our right-hand drive hybrid Sequoias and Tundras are guaranteed to meet or exceed our customers’ expectations,” he said. “The only acceptable standard is perfect. Anything else, and we would be doing these vehicles a disservice.
“We’ve seen interest from a whole new market in New Zealand now the range has moved to the luxury hybrid family SUV segment. We’re excited to get them into our customers’ hands and on the road.”
King, 38, is a product of Toyota NZ’s network. He did a technician’s apprenticeship in Alexandra in the early 2000s, before heading to Canada to work for a Toyota outfit in Prince George, British Columbia, a city roughly halfway between Vancouver and the province’s border with Alaska.
Back in NZ he set up his own operation where he won back-to-back nationwide excellence awards sponsored by Toyota NZ.
- Glacier International’s website https://www.glacier.nz