The Detroit Auto Show was full of three-row crossover news with the Ford Explorer, Kia Telluride and Cadillac XT6 all making their debuts. But the news isn't over yet as one of our spy photographers caught the next-generation Toyota Highlander out testing. The crossover is carefully camouflaged with copious amounts of cardboard, but we can still see that it will pretty much look like a big RAV4, specifically the Adventure trim level.
The first RAV4 cue is the grille, which has the same trapezoidal opening as that small crossover and traditional Toyota trucks including the Tacoma and 4Runner. It appears a thin grille opening runs along the bottom in RAV4 style, too. Then, at the back, the rear hatch leans farther forward and is more angular and chiseled, following in the footsteps of the RAV4.
With how much the front of this appears to look like a RAV4 Adventure, we're expecting other trims to have a slightly different fascia with a bigger grille. Under the hood, we'll probably see the Camry's 301-horsepower V6 and 203-horsepower inline-four. Each of those would mark an improvement over the existing 295-horsepower and 185-horsepower engines. All-wheel drive and hybrid options will almost certainly be available, too. Since this prototype looks fairly finished under the camouflage, we also suspect it will be revealed by the end of the year, or early next year.
