Autoblog

John Neff's been a busy beaver at the Toyota booth at SEMA, where Toyota had two very decked-out vehicles sporting the Hybrid Synergy Drive: the Highlander Hybrid Turbo Sport and the CHiL (Camry Hybrid Limited). Just like Toyota is trying to show the crowd that its trucks are ripe for modification, it's also trying to show that hybrids can join in on the fun. The CHiL is mostly comprised of styling tweaks, the most obvious being the revised front fascia that ditches the grille. It's got 19-inch wheels that can't be good for the gas mileage, but here at SEMA, form wins out over function. The two headrest-mounted handheld computers are an interesting touch, but we'd rather watch flicks in the back than text our friends.

The Highlander HTS was much more interesting. Though it was chock full of custom styling mods like a body kit, paint, grille, hood scoop, etc., it also featured a big BorgWarner turbo added to its 3.3-liter V6. Net power jumps from 268 hp to 305 hp, and the setup looks insane under the hood with an intercooler mounted atop the engine being fed by a functional (yay!) hoodscoop. There's also a myriad of electronic equipment inside including speakers, subs, systems and all the rest.
(Photo gallery after the jump)