Toyota Thailand (TMT) is one of the largest and most important operations of the company in the world, which is 60 years old since it was established in 1962. Currently, TMT is in charge of 14,200 operators and three local plants (Samrong, Gateway and Ban Pho), responsible for the production of the Corolla, Corolla Cross, Yaris, Yaris Ativ, Camry, C-HR and Fortuner, but especially , of the hilux. In fact, two of these three plants manufacture it due to its high demand. In 2021, the production of these three assemblers resulted in 520 thousand units.
To celebrate this milestone, TMT made a special presentation, which featured with the presence of the always charismatic Akio Toyoda and also Noriaki Yamashita, president of TMT for two years and who commented on the plans to support electromobility so that at least 30% of the cars sold are electric by 2030 in the country, as well as the efforts that have been made, both in the injection of capital for everything that it has to do with research and development, as well as to reduce the emission rates in the plants.
At the opening of the celebration, Akio Toyoda appeared in front of the public accompanied by a spectacular “tuned” version of the Hilux Revo (in other countries it bears that last name), on the ground, with sports wheels, air vents, spoilers and a body kit, as if it were a racing truck.
“Hello to all my friends in Thailand. Because this is such an important occasion, I thought I should make as dramatic an entrance as possible. So I borrowed this super-prepared Hilux van from one of our clients. How about it? As you should You may have noticed, I don’t just like cars… I love them! And I like nothing more than seeing our customers enjoy them as much as I do. So I want to thank all the customers in Thailand who take our products and turn them into really amazing things.”
Immediately afterwards, he invites the owner of the truck to the stage and tells him: “I hope he sells it to me.”
Then he recounted some adventures of what were the beginnings of TMT and thanked the royal family of Thailand for their support. He spoke of the Soluna, which was the first car developed by TMT and also of the Hilux Vigo (IMV project) of 2002, a project that he promoted when he was not yet the president of Toyota and that catapulted the production of the Hilux pickup in Thailand.
And this is where the good stuff comes in…
The good
Toyoda introduced two important models that will be talked about both for Thailand and for markets where the Hilux is relevant. The first model is IMV 0, a tribute to the original IMV project and consisting of a retro-futuristic style truck, but designed to be very versatile, be it as a lifestyle or work vehicle. The IMV 0, according to Toyoda, is designed to support economic growth and mobility for all, so it can be deduced that it does not appear to be a 100% electric model. It will debut in another year.
On the other side of the stage, the surprise: the new Hilux BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) Concept, based on a hilux single cab, but with a sealed grill, a huge charging port and a chassis where you can see something that could be the batteries. This is a prototype model and it is very much in line with the hydrogen version that is being tested elsewhere.
Akio Toyoda did not reveal any information about these models, but he did take the opportunity to defend his position in the face of criticism that has been made against him for not 100% supporting the change to electromobility: “Because, just like the self-driving vehicles we should be driving today, I think electric cars are going to take longer to catch on than we’d like. And frankly, electric cars aren’t the only way to achieve carbon neutrality at global level. Personally, I prefer to drive all options, even synthetic fuels or hydrogen. I still believe that hydrogen is as promising a technology as electrification. In fact, I was recently driving a hydrogen rally Yaris on the date of Belgium of the WRC, for the press and the public. This is the first time I have driven it and I was shocked with its performance.”
