Say hello the refreshed Toyota Fortuner! Unveiled in Thailand, it will eventually land on Indian shores as well. The updated SUV is and has been the king of its segment for years. And with the facelift, Toyota intends to hold on to the pole position. It gains the mid-life refresh status courtesy of subtle design tweaks and a couple of new toys.

On the outside, the revised Fortuner features reprofiled LED headlamps with integrated DRLs, a larger grille, restyled front and rear bumpers, new 18-inch alloy wheels and upgraded taillamp enclosures which boast LED elements. Toyota has also unveiled a Fortuner Lengender derivative which gets more aggressive styling, including dual-tone paint shades, 20-inch alloy wheels, completely different front end and a bunch of blacked-out trim pieces.

Indoors, the Thai-spec Fortuner facelift gets an all-black upholstery. For India, however, the dual-tone theme should march on. In terms of design, there’s almost nothing to differentiate. However, the SUV now packs a new 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system which supports Apple CarPlay. Even the instrument cluster has received some subtle revisions, while both the driver and front passenger get 8-way powered seats. The kit also includes wireless mobile charging, a 9-speaker JBL sound system, LED ambient lighting and a 360-degree camera. As for the Fortuner Legender, it packs more creature comforts.

On the mechanical front, the most significant development comes for the 2.8-litre diesel engine. It now produces 201bhp/500Nm, an increment of up to 27bhp/80Nm. Presently, it is unclear whether that version of the motor will make it to India. In all likelihood, Toyota will continue offering the Fortuner with the 2.7-litre petrol engine as well. Both mills bagged their BS6 (Bharat Stage 6) badges earlier this year. For the record, the Japanese carmaker had recently bumped-up the prices for the Fortuner in India.

So, when will it arrive in India? That should happen sometime next year. And when it does, the Fortuner facelift will continue rivalling the likes of the Ford Endeavour, Isuzu MU-X and the Mahindra Alturas G4. As a final point to ponder, what if India gets a hybrid between the standard Fortuner and its Legender version?