Eighth-generation Toyota Hilux (GUN125)

Japan now has its own pickup back where it belongs and it's known as the Toyota Hilux, a global model that has been absent in the Japanese market for over a decade in a half, and now it's back for the eighth-generation model. Of course, this particular model has been introduced a few years ago in Thailand under the Hilux Revo banner but there is one major reason why a truck like a Hilux was introduced in Japan for the first time not because it's too late to start a JDM pickup renaissance. No, it wants to demonstrate to Japan what a real global Japanese model is.

2018 Toyota Hilux

You see, the Hilux was at the forefront of global Japanese models that went missing in their home market when they stopped selling one in Japan in 2004. Years later, it was followed by the Nissan Safari, Honda Civic, the Toyota RAV4, the Nissan Dualis, and then the Honda CR-V, Japan is a bizarre car market where what's sold globally is not available in its home market for reasons known only to themselves. Unless Japan's governing bodies deal with this ongoing trend, there will be Japanese cars that won't be available on Japanese soil while letting the rest of the world have one and that's unfair.

Today's Toyota Hilux is just like today's Honda Civic as its return to the Japanese market will strike a warning shot to those who buck the trend, those who are afraid to be Tomica-nized, and those that made Japan left behind with the rest of the globe in terms of cars. So, now that the Hilux is back on Japanese soil after its 13-year drought, what's new about the newly-revived truck?

2018 Toyota Hilux

Although Japanese in spirit, the new Toyota Hilux is an import from Thailand, the Land of Smiles, meaning that this pickup has a dual citizenship status just like the Mitsubishi Mirage, which is also made in Thailand as well. Keeping it true to the Hilux spirit for almost five decades, the Hilux's masculine design stretches out from the front, the side, and the back, and while it's rare to see a pickup truck roaming around on the streets of Tokyo, the Hilux's design shows that this truck is bravado in the land of anime, idols, gadgets, and small cars. It may be born in Thailand but it has a heart and soul of a Japanese otaku inside and out if you know what I mean.

2018 Toyota Hilux interior

2018 Toyota Hilux interior

On the inside, despite its bravado looks, the Hilux is as comfortable as a Toyota Corolla in so many ways, and judging from its Auris-styled dashboard, it's classic Toyota comfort for five passengers and accommodating inside the new Hilux can be downright average or decent if you may. Not too shabby but not too luxurious but hey, at least it's well-lavished for some country folks working hard for a living, and as a medium-sized pickup truck, the bed can accommodate up to 500kg of payload, which is not what you called a one-tonner or a half-tonner either, but rather above average to carry some stuff from your farm days or for your day off at the beach. Now that's versatile on so many levels.

2018 Toyota Hilux

Under the hood, the Hilux is powered by Toyota's 2GD-FTV 2.4L diesel engine that produces 150PS of power and 400Nm of torque, which doesn't sound so brisk for pickup standards but it's still got some push and pull to ruin your farm day by accident and curing the B-word. Mated to a 6-speed Super ECT gearbox, fuel economy is 11.8km/L based on JC08 Mode standards. Because the Hilux has a wide reputation for being unbreakable, it comes with a highly rigid frame like most pickups have, high tensile steel sheets, specially developed crumple zones, and impact-absorbing structures. Nothing says "Drive A Hilux, Be Unbreakable" more than driving one of the world's toughest vehicles on The Land of the Rising Sun, especially when Mother Nature's gone wild with it.

Like most pickups, the Hilux comes with a part-time 4WD system that can switch the driving method depending on the condition of the road surface. You can switch to either 2WD, high-range 4WD, or the offroaders' favorite setting; low-range 4WD, at the turn of the knob, and when you engage on 4WD settings, the active traction control, and rear differential lock as well as Hill-start Assist Control and Downhill Assist Control, keeps the Hilux prepared to take on uncharted territories no matter how crushing or brutal your exploration can be, and with the Toyota Safety Sense P tech, it makes it even more accessible to those who want a safe truck to drive. How's that for explorers?

The new Hilux starts at 3,267,000 Japanese Yen (around $33,000) and because being the only Japanese pickup available on its home base, it gets pretty lonely unless Nissan and Mitsubishi decide to bring theirs to the Land of the Rising Sun but that sounds unlikely and for now, the Hilux will be a niche to the Japanese customers and how the fate of this Thai-made Japanese pickup fares on its homecoming will be anyone's guess.

Available colors: Super White II, Crimson Spark Red Metallic, Silver Metallic, Nebula Blue Metallic, and Attitude Black Mica.

Photo: Toyota Motor Corporation