Toyota has revealed details of its revised-for-2012 Hilux bakkie, launched in Europe today and due for SA release within the next three months.
The cabin has been extensively restyled with a new upper dashboard and horizontal centre instrument cluster to reinforce the breadth and roominess of the cabin.
Darker finishes throughout with more colour consistency - and the addition of some bright-metal trim - are intended to improve perceived quality, says Toyota.
But the big changes are on the outside, where everything in front of the A pillars is new - bonnet, grille, headlights and front bumpers. Front and rear wings are also new, framing redesigned 15" and 17" steel and alloy rims, as are the door mirrors.
Perhaps it would be easier to say the doors, roof and tailgate are unchanged; everything else is new!
In a clever bit of parts-bin engineering, two-wheel drive models now have the same heavy-duty, high-rise chassis as their all-wheel drive stable-mates, simplifying production, improving ground clearance and increasing the two-wheel drive models' towing capacity to 2.5 tons.
The Hilux will be available in Europe with a revised 2.5-litre D-4D turbodiesel, now with a variable-nozzle hairdryer for an extra 18kW (up to 106kW at 3600rpm and 343Nm at 2000rpm), on only 7.3 litres/100km and 193g/km.
Due to the usual fuel issues, unfortunately, we won't be getting the 2.5 D-4D in South Africa. SA Hiluxes will soldier on with the three-litre D-4D, now with a diesel particulate filter to make it Euro V-compliant, and a variety of petrol engines - although Toyota SA has promised some interesting engine news at the South African launch.
Hilux bakkies, in single, extended and double-cab flavours, with manual and auto transmissions and two or all-wheel drive, are made in Thailand and South Africa (at Toyota's Prospecton plant in Durban)and sold in 136 countries around the world - how's that for a global model!