Toyota’s Forklift Maker Built Three RAV4s That Look Nothing Like Yours

While Toyota is best known around the world as a carmaker, the company’s actual corporate structure runs far deeper. Like many Japanese industrial giants, it’s part of a larger ecosystem of related companies, some with overlapping roles.

One of those is Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), a lesser-known yet foundational piece of the Toyota Group. At the upcoming Tokyo Auto Salon, TICO will appear alongside Toyota, bringing its own concept takes on several familiar Toyota models.

Read: Japan’s 2026 Toyota RAV4 Gets Something You Don’t

Before we dive into the show cars, there’s a bit of history worth noting. Toyota Industries Corporation, originally called Toyota Loom Works, is in fact the origin point of what would eventually become Toyota Motor Corporation. Today, TICO operates on a global scale as a leading manufacturer of forklift trucks, textile machinery, and automotive components, managing brands like Toyota, Raymond, and CESAB.

Mixing Old and New at Tokyo Auto Salon

TICO has offered an early glimpse of three RAV4-based concepts it plans to reveal at the Tokyo Auto Salon this January. Interestingly, not all of them use the current-generation model. One concept, for reasons left unexplained, is built on the outgoing version of the RAV4 that was recently replaced by an all-new model.

The first Toyota is known as the Outdoor Style Concept. It shows how fantastic the new RAV4 can look when equipped with a slew of rough-and-ready parts that ensure it looks right at home on a difficult off-road trail or cruising along a beach.

Adorning the exterior is a dark green hue with an off-road-inspired black livery. Toyota then appears to have jacked up the ride height and added a new matte-black plastic front bumper, complete with two bright red tow hooks. It’s also added new LED daytime running lights and orange grille lights.

Complementing these changes are new black wheels with red center caps and clad in all-terrain Toyo tires. The RAV4 has also been equipped with a new roof rack and a unique rear bumper, also with red trims.

Perhaps even more exciting than this model is the RAV4 GR Sport prototype. It’s based on the regular GR Sport that our own Stephen Rivers drove a couple of months ago.

The model shown in these photos looks pretty much identical to the regular model. Still, Toyota says it will be displayed alongside a slew of GR-specific parts, showcasing possible customization options that could be made available to owners.

Then there’s the third concept, based on the recently superseded RAV4. Known as the 50 Series, it has a flamboyant blue and black paint scheme and also sits on a new set of black wheels. Toyota says it’s been created to show how modifying this version of the RAV4 can be made “more enjoyable.”

John Halas contributed to this story.