Toyota Hilux GR-S gets (temporarily) rebranded as GR Sport in PH

To GR-S or GR Sport, that is the question

Just recently, we conducted our long overdue review of the performance-enhanced version of Toyota’s ever-popular pick-up truck: the Hilux GR-S.

We had our usual evaluation of the truck’s performance, ride, fuel economy, and other measurements, and found it to be an interesting counterpoint to a Ranger Raptor. Toyota didn’t go all out to build a direct rival to a Raptor as they chose to preserve certain Hilux qualities (cargo capacity at the expense of ride) to still appeal to Hilux customers who expect a hard-use truck.

But something came up after we published the video review. We have been referring to the Hilux that we reviewed as the GR-S, and we published a price on the video that says it was PHP 2,172,000. But as it turned out, the information was inaccurate.

Toyota has quietly renamed the Hilux GR-S as the Hilux GR Sport on their website. That had us confused because Toyota did launch a Hilux GR Sport in 2021 which had some suspension upgrades, a different kit but no power upgrade. The performance model launched in 2023 is different because it has a wilder body kit, retuned suspension, and a power upgrade, but Toyota refers to it as the Hilux GR-S to avoid confusion with the now discontinued GR Sport from 2021 to 2023.

Now, they’ve changed that. The GR-S (which is the vehicle we reviewed) is now being officially referred to as GR Sport by Toyota Motor Philippines and now has a PHP 2,158,000 price tag.

So what gives? Why the change?

As it was explained to us, the change was prompted by the Special Service Campaign (SSC) that saw a recall of Toyota Hilux GR-S variants with the GR sports bar on the cargo bed. Toyota found that there was a potential for cracking on the sports bar so they initiated the SSC to have the part removed, pending an improved replacement.

The truck is perfectly fine, it's just the sports bar. It's the same for other markets that are selling the performance variant of the Hilux. But Toyota Motor Philippines would not sell that a vehicle with an active SSC, so they are now marketing the Hilux GR-S without a rear sports bar as the GR Sport. That explains the change in naming (at least internally), and the slightly lower price tag.

From what we understand, once Toyota secures a more durable replacement for the sports bar, they will replace the ones on GR-S customers affected by the recall. Customers who bought the 2024 Hilux GR Sport that is already without a sports bar won’t get it because the vehicle was sold without the sports bar in the first place, hence the lower price tag. 

So yes, truck is pefectly fine, but why does Toyota have prices for both GR-S and GR Sport on the website price list? The reason for that is that there are still GR-S units at dealership stockyards with the sports bar in place. These are being sold at the higher GR-S price (now at PHP 2,192,000), but once sold Toyota replace the sports bar at a later time.

Wait, there’s more: once Toyota does secure the new sports bar and fit it into the new stocks, they will phase out GR Sport and again revert to the original model name: Hilux GR-S.

Yes, even we had to take some time to wrap our heads around this conundrum caused by a sports bar accessory.