The Toyota Hilux facelift is now in Malaysia and is set to officially surface
soon.
This is quite a prominent facelift for the current
generation Hilux, which was launched here in May 2016. The nose resembles that
of the latest Tacoma, Toyota’s North American midsize truck. The hexagonal
grille is large, and it joins a redesigned bumper with an upturned centre air
intake and new fog light surrounds. The rest of the exterior appears similar to
before, like the interior.
In Thailand, this new front fascia is only available
on the 4×4 and high-riding 4×2 Prerunner variants; the more utilitarian members
of the family carry over the same face, but with a black grille and a front
bumper guard.
It seems like we’re set to get a new variant called
the “Hilux 2.4 Auto Luxury Edition”, which should slot between the current
Hilux 2.4G and the range-topping Hilux 2.8G.
New face aside, the Hilux 2.4 Luxury gets a new rear
step ornament (with embossed ‘Hilux’ logo), new side stickers, an all-black
cabin (including pillars and headlining), and perforated leather seats.
It’s not clear if the listed kit are exclusive to
the 2.4 Luxury or will be shared with other variants. There should be no
changes under the hood, with the 2.4 litre 2GD-FTV (150 PS, 400 Nm) and 2.8
litre 1GD-FTV (177 PS, 450 Nm) turbodiesels continuing service alongside a
six-speed automatic transmission.
