Posted: 16/07/2021
With over 40 years of hard-working heritage, HiLux has a legendary reputation for the uncompromising partnership for those ready to get the job done and be equally ready when it's time to play. With HiLux being the top-selling Ute in Australia for 10 years running, we thought we best share some fun facts about Australia's favourite ute.
1. The name HiLux comes from the term "High Luxury". But in all honesty, the Hilux was only ever luxurious back then when compared with Toyota's other pickup of the time - the incredibly basic Stout (pictured below).
![]()
https://www.reddit.com/r/Toyota/comments/dwq658/my_1968_toyota_stout/
2. JUST A FEW MONTHS before Elvis Presley gyrated his way back onto television in 1968, the first-ever Toyota HiLux rolled off the production line at the Hino Motors Hamura plant in Japan.
![]()
https://pressroom.toyota.com/album/1969-1972-toyota-hi-lux-truck-first-1st-generation/
3. The tag “Unbreakable” on the Toyota HiLux didn’t come from nowhere. The HiLux built a reputation for being near indestructible. Top gear proved this...
The show's producers bought an 18-year-old Hilux diesel with 300,000km on the clock, then host Jeremy Clarkson did horrible things to it, including submerging it in the ocean for five hours, dropping a caravan on it, hitting it with a wrecking ball, and setting it on fire. Ultimately it was placed on top of a tower block that was then demolished. When they dug it out of the rubble, it still worked.
4. Volkswagon and Toyota teamed up to create a new pickup based on the Toyota HiLux! The result of Volkswagen wanting a pickup and Toyota wanting to gain more traction in the European market produced the “VW Taro”. You don’t recognise this vehicle for a reason, as it failed to take off and was completely scrapped in 1997.
https://mag.toyota.co.uk/history-toyota-hilux/
![]()
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Volkswagen_Taro
5. The purpose of Toyota HiLux has changed over the years. The latest generations of HiLux have been built as a touring/adventuring car and with that in mind, Toyota is the only brand to have an allocated spot already built in for a second battery. Perfect for a camping fridge!
![]()
Image Source: Gall Boys
6. The Pizza Planet Truck, which is based on a Toyota HiLux, has appeared in every Pixar movie ever! (except The Incredibles 1)
![]()
https://www.insider.com/pizza-planet-truck-pixar-movies#the-toys-drive-off-in-the-truck-in-toy-story-2-in-a-race-to-save-woody-3
7. Have you used the flip-down hook on the back of the front seat? Toyota has put this in as the perfect accessory to hook your takeaway bag on, to ensure no spills!
![]()
8. Toyota HiLux has been the best-selling 4x4 for the last 10years and was the best-selling car in 2017. 2017 was also a good year for Richmond, finally, giving the black and gold army something to smile about, ending their 37-year wait for an AFL flag.
![]()
Source: Cargo Collective
9. The HiLux's biggest impact on popular culture, came from the legendary Bugger ad that aired in the early 2000's. This ad had multiple complaints made against it to the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB), for the word "Bugger". The ASB did not see an issue with the word, as it was classified as standard Australian slang, so the ads kept running. It is also built on the Hilux's reputation for indestructibility.
10. The top song when HiLux was launched in 1968 was “Hey Jude” by The Beatles... also still a classic.
![]()
Source: IMdB