Toyota’s midsize SUV story gets a weird little twist in Australia, where the Highlander badge never made it onto the road. The same vehicle that buyers know as the Highlander in the U.S. has long worn the Kluger name there, and the reason comes down to trademark battles, market history, and a naming fallback that stuck. What looks like a simple badge change is actually a neat case of automotive branding getting boxed in by legal reality.
Toyota has given the Highlander a fresh overhaul for the 2027 model year, with a new design and updated drivetrain tech that make the old version look dated fast. Even with the SUV changing in a big way, Toyota kept the Highlander name in the U.S. because it still carries strong recognition with American buyers. Outside the U.S., though, the branding picture is messier, and Australia is the best example of that.
In Australia, Toyota had to use the name Kluger instead of Highlander because Hyundai got there first with a trademark claim. Hyundai filed for the Highlander name in Australia back in 1999, then Toyota tried to secure it in 2003 and got turned down. That left Toyota with a problem and a quick fix, so it reached for a name it had already used in Japan: Kluger V.
The Kluger name itself comes from the German word “klug,” which means wise or smart. Toyota used that badge in Japan when the SUV first appeared there in 2000, so it was a familiar backup rather than a random invention. In Australia, it became the permanent answer to a naming dispute Toyota could not easily win.
Even after years of selling the SUV as the Kluger, Toyota still tried again to claim the Highlander name in Australia in 2024. The effort went nowhere, since Hyundai continued to hold on to Highlander-related rights there for some of its own model trims. Toyota Australia also made it clear in 2024 that there were “no plans to use the name ‘Highlander’ locally.”
Japan had its own Kluger chapter, and it was a lot less successful than the Australian one. The original Kluger V never really took off with buyers, who tended to prefer the Harrier instead. That name might sound familiar too, since American buyers know the Harrier as the Lexus RX, another example of Toyota’s habit of selling closely related vehicles under different badges depending on the market.
While the Harrier built a stronger reputation in Japan, the Kluger V remained the lesser-loved sibling. Toyota tried adding a three-row version and later a Kluger L variant, but those updates never turned it into a hit. By 2007, Toyota had dropped the Kluger from the Japanese market altogether, and the name seemed like a dead end.
That silence lasted almost two decades, which makes the name’s return a little surprising. Toyota is bringing the model back to Japan, but this time it wears the Highlander badge instead of Kluger. The first examples are expected to reach dealers in August 2026, even though the setup is a little awkward for local buyers.
The Japanese-market Highlander is actually built for New Zealand, not Japan, which means it is not perfectly tuned for Japanese roads and drivers. Toyota says some driver assists and most of the infotainment functions will not work properly there. It is a strange compromise, but it shows how global car brands often have to make do with what the trademark and product-planning puzzle allows.
The Highlander name itself was never meant to sound random or sporty for the sake of it. Toyota wanted a badge that suggested toughness, versatility, and a little bit of mountain-bred grit, which is why the Scottish Highlands reference fit so well. It is a name that sounds strong in English, even if the brand’s connection to actual highlands is pretty thin.
That is part of what makes this whole story fun. Toyota and Hyundai both had to navigate naming turf wars, and Land Rover almost entered the same fight years earlier when it considered using Highlander for the Discovery and Freelander. In the end, Australia stuck with Kluger, Japan moved back to Highlander, and the badge drama kept rolling right alongside the SUVs themselves.
