Blue Oval sees red about suggestion impending Toyota has a Green edge.

AN impending hybrid drivetrain coming to the Ford Ranger’s biggest competitor is not as frugal nor as emissions friendly as the 2.0-litre turbodiesel it will compare against.

That view is expressed by Ford New Zealand in wake of publication by Toyota New Zealand today of information relating to the Hilux with a mild electric assist for its family-standard 2.8-litre turbodiesel.

Pricing and confirmation the potentially crucial Toyota will limit to one version, in four wheel-drive double cab form, slipped into the public arena with no fanfare today, a continuation of a remarkably softly-softly pre-launch share.

There was no publicity associated with Hilux hybrid having made its public debut in displaying at Central Districts’ Feildays - the country’s second-largest rural fair - at Manfeild, Feilding, two weeks ago.

Today TNZ quietly added Hilux hybrid pricing to its website and notified the model will come on sale mid to late this year, purely in SR5 Cruiser 4WD format for $65,490.

That means the hybrid system, comprising a 48V electric motor generator, a lithium-ion battery and a DC/DC converter which enables a stop/start system, will carry a $2100 premium over the standard diesel equivalent.

Power and torque output are respectively cited at 150kW and 500Nm - the same as a regular type.

The drivetrain’s Green ambition also seems to have wilted.

When the system was announced last year, via Toyota Australia, which has just put the tech on sale, there was talk of the assistance being up to trimming fuel consumption by 10 percent. That comment was later altered, with the make citing consumption reductions of between six and 10 percent might be possible, depending on the variant.

Conjecture then was that the double cab four-wheel-drive models would at best conceivably present 7.6 litres per 100 kilometres, against the 8.4L/100km cited for that type in current format.

That’s now been scuppered.

TNZ’s on-line material shows the hybrid having an economy of 8.7L/100km - the same as the unassisted engine - and emissions of 231 grams per kilometre, both estimated figures based on WLTP-3 conversion.

Comment in media suggesting this was an edge over the Ford Ranger was quickly rebutted by the Blue Oval’s national office in Auckland, which pointed out that it’s equivalent four-cylinder, the 2.0-litre biturbo in the XL, XLT, Sport and Wildtrak burns fuel at a rate of 8.0-8.3L/100km and also emits 211-218g/km. The biturbo also presents in Euro 5 and Euro 6 formats (the later in the special edition Tremor), whereas Hilux is Euro 5.