Toyota Hilux celebrates golden jubilee in some style

MANILA: Celebrating the 50th anniversary or we can say the golden jubilee of the Toyota Hilux, the Japanese automaker has launched a special edition of the pickup truck. The limited edition Hilux is termed as the “Z Black Rally Edition”. The visual revisions on the Hilux provide it with much aggressive and muscular appearance than before.

On the front, there is a new skid plate in grey. The grille looks reminiscent to the Land Cruiser and the hell lotta chrome has now made way for a subtle gloss black touch. The alloy wheels are also dipped in black and are wrapped with Dunlop Grandtrek all-terrain tyres. The white lettering on the tyres might not have been a huge effort but it for sure brings along that sporty flair. The rear bumper also gets rid of chrome and is now finished in grey. The Hilux now features a wider stance, thanks to the new over-fenders. More touches of the classy black can be found on the door handles and the ORVMs.

Inside of the Hilux Z Black Rally Edition, the dashboard features a chrome strip. The gloss black panels on the dash and doors have now been replaced by metallic black ones. More of black can be seen with the metallic black inserts on the steering wheel which is wrapped in leather. A flourish of white has been given to the revamped instrument cluster.

In the Philippines, the Toyota Hilux comes with a 2.8-litre turbodiesel engine. But in Japan, the Hilux is offered with a 2.4-litre motor. This motor is smaller only by the name and produces identical power figures as the 2.8-litre unit. The max power produced in 150 PS with a peak torque of 400 Nm. Including the Z Black Rally Edition variant, the whole range of the Hilux gets 4WD as standard.

The Hilux Z Black Rally Edition is unlikely to be made available in other countries. However, with the reveal of the Hilux Invincible 50 in the UK, Toyota might roll out separate special editions in different regions.