By: IOL Motoring Staff
Johannesburg - The hugely anticipated, all-new Toyota Hilux is being launched in South Africa this week.
The eighth generation of this top seller is larger and more refined than its predecessor and certain models come with a raft of new gadgets, including a touch-screen audio system with satnav and reverse camera as well as push-button keyless start and trailer sway control.
More importantly, it also introduces a new range of turbodiesel engines in the form of a 110kW 2.4-litre and 130kW 2.8-litre.
Indeed, the trusty Hilux has come a long way since its humble but tough beginning in the late 1960s. Let's see how it evolved:
R1525 FOR A HILUX IN 1969!
The first-generation Hilux made its SA debut back in 1969, available only as a basic single cab workhorse, powered by a 1.5-litre petrol engine and priced at just R1525! It soon became a segment leader, with 7380 of them finding homes the following year.
The second generation reached our shores in 1973 and brought an increase in size, comfier cabin and new 1.6- and 2-litre petrol engines.
It was only from the third generation in 1979 that the Hilux could call itself a bundu basher as a 4x4 variant became available and this generation ushered in a diesel engine option too.
SURVIVING TOUGH TIMES
The boxy fourth-generation continued the car-like evolution in the mid-80s, with a double cab becoming available for the first time and the fifth generation added some curves to the styling when it hit international shores in 1989. Toyota South Africa skipped this generation altogether, likely due to the economic uncertainty of the time, but did treat gen-four to an ongoing series of improvements throughout the '90s, until the sixth-generation hit the scene in 1998. This was the first Hilux to offer a turbo-charged diesel engine.
The even more refined and powerful seventh-generation Hilux was launched back in 2005 and in 2011 received a major facelift to keep it going until today's eighth generation Hilux was ready.