As Connor MacLeod says in the 1986 movie Highlander, “there can be only one”. That seems true, because when Toyota launched a new crossover-SUV back in 2000 it found that its global Highlander name had to be a bit less global than it had hoped.
Another company had dibs on the name in at least two markets (Japan and Australia). Hyundai laid claim to the Highland name for a 4x4 concept in 1999 (above), which eventually became the Terracan SUV (2001-11). As a follow-on, it introduced Highlander as a trim level.
So either Toyota didn’t do its homework, or it liked the Highlander badge so much (big Christopher Lambert fans?) it was prepared to compromise in a couple of countries. Whatever the case, when it launched its new crossover SUV it had to find another name for Japan and Australia.
It settled on Kluger, a German word meaning “clever”. Nice idea, although The Good Oil can’t help thinking it was a little lost in translation (well, that’s another movie actually), because it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
Don’t feel too sorry for Toyota. It’s done a bit of badge bullying of its own, because it holds the rights to the “Edge” name as a trim level for Australia and New Zealand, meaning Ford had to change the global name of its new SUV to Endura just for Down Under when it launched in 2018.
Anyway, Highlander is still used as a trim level by Hyundai Australia, on models including Santa Fe, Palisade and the Staria people mover. So with the global Toyota model name also in the mix, there can actually be… at least four.