Samut Prakan, Thailand - Toyota’s Thai division pulled the wraps off the facelifted Toyota Hilux on Thursday morning, and while all the excitement has centred around the range-topping variants, there is also a full range of base and mid-spec variants, which form the backbone of the range.
Do note however, that what you see here is the Thailand-spec Hilux and at this stage we don’t know how the South African models may differ, but this is likely a good indication.
As with the flagship models, the facelifted base and mid models get a new, and somewhat bigger, front grille and a fresh bumper design, except that for cost and practicality purposes you’re just seeing more black plastic and less flashy chrome.
And while the fancier models get a revised 2.8-litre turbodiesel engine with 150kW and 500Nm, the base Hilux variants, as expected, soldier on with the same 2.4-litre turbodiesel engine, which makes sense from a cost perspective. The engine produces 110kW and 400Nm, when paired with a six-speed manual gearbox, and 343Nm when the six-speed autobox applies.
Interestingly Thai-spec workhorse models ship standard with the new 20.3cm touchscreen infotainment system as standard, but it’s not clear whether this will apply to South African models, where cost considerations could lead to this being omitted.
This how South Africa's SRX variant is likely to look.
Toyota South Africa says the introduction of the facelifted Hilux is at least "months away" and we'll find out more about the local line-up closer to launch.
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