Toyota’s new all-electric Big Red Ute for iconic children’s musical group The Wiggles may seem like a left-field partnership, but the team behind its design were heavily influenced by the brand’s icons for bigger kids.
Speaking with CarExpert at the launch event for the FJ Cruiser-inspired Big Red Ute stage car, Ewan Kingsbury – head of creative design at Toyota Design Australia – said the cutesy stage car has heavy influence from the iconic LandCruiser 70 Series and FJ which can be found in the most remote parts of Australia.
“When you think about utes in Australia, Toyota utes – the FJ and 70 Series – for us, are very iconic. When you go up to the inter-country Australia, you just see a lot of LandCruiser 70 Series – they’re iconic for what we call the QDR (Quality, Durability, Reliability),” Mr Kingsbury said.
“[With the Big Red Ute] we wanted to really embody that: that’s the inspiration, that’s the icon. It’s kind of the king of country Australia, in our opinion.”
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WATCH: James Wong gets a walkaround of the new Toyota Big Red Ute featuring The Wiggles
“To try and distill that into something that’s friendly and cute, but still has a kind of cheeky character, was super fun,” Mr Kingsbury continued.
“Seeing people’s reactions and even walking out the back where the guys were building it… it was just fun to walk in and see this little, tiny red ute sitting there amongst all the other things we’ve got going on.”
Mr Kingsbury leads the creative design division of Toyota Design Australia, a local design centre that currently employs more than 50 people making it one of, if not the largest Australian employer of automotive designers.
The firm has been operating for more than two decades, originally based in Dingley then Port Melbourne, before moving into a brand new facility in Altona in 2022, created out of the old Toyota Australia engine plant.
It’s not just sketching either; there are several other sub-divisions within Toyota Design Australia including fabrication, sculpting, as well as the electrical and electromechanical divisions.
Toyota Big Red Ute with The Wiggles
Last week, Toyota Australia announced a new partnership with The Wiggles, off the back of the group’s new song Big Red Ute – a country-themed children’s song with nostalgic ties to Big Red Car – which saw Toyota collaborate with a special HiLux decked out in a special Wiggles livery featuring in the music video.
Toyota’s electric Big Red Ute stage car joins the roadworthy Buute and Toott Big Red Utes, a pair of Wiggles-themed HiLux utes which The Wiggles will be driving to the 2025 Toyota Tamworth Country Music Festival in NSW ahead of two special shows on January 21.
Following its on-stage debut at the Wiggle and Learn Big Show concert in Melbourne on Saturday, December 7, it’ll continue touring with the iconic children’s group across Australia and worldwide – with shows in Newcastle and Sydney scheduled for the remainder of December.
The FJ Cruiser-inspired stage car is powered by a 48V DC electric motor on the rear axle hooked up to a 48V lithium-ion battery – outputs and energy density aren’t disclosed. Toyota quotes a top speed of 20km/h.
It measures 3120mm long and 1620mm tall, with desirable on-board features like a commercial grade bubble machine with an output of 6000 bubbles/min; and LED headlights programmed to work as ‘eyes’.
Filling the arches are 12-inch Rainbow Turbofan wheels shod in 22 x 9.50-10 front and 24 x 12.00-10 rear tyres, and up to four Wiggles can ride in the Wiggles Yellow-coloured front and rear bench seats with retractable seatbelts.
Rounding out the provided spec details are a rack and pinion steering system as well as rear drum brakes.
You can read more about the Toyota Big Red Ute here.
