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Hilux another Kiwi to fly the ditch?
Richard Bosselman
December 12, 2025
Toyota high-ups who directed development of the latest version of this Kiwi icon have now finally tried the finished product on our terrain.
KIWI affection for the Toyota Hilux is stuff of lore here - but for the leader of the latest type’s development team, reason why seems all to learn.
Past developers of Japan Inc’s highest-profile ute have come to know New Zealand well over the years.
Our landscape, conditions and Hilux habits have provided challenges and valuable insight.
NZ was one of the very first export markets for the model; taking it in 1970, so just two years after the ‘High Luxury’ debuted in Japan. That early adoption seems to have registered as a positive.
Sense that a swag of pre-production evaluation has occurred here over the ensuing five decades has occasionally come from Toyota Zealand during that time.
It’s been clear numerous overseas’ teams - mainly from the home office - have come through to check out how this model handled our diversity of terrain.
For the most part that has occurred with little to no fanfare, for simple reason: They’ve tended to do those assessments at time when the vehicle was still secret. On occasion years ahead of its release schedule.
A just-concluded visit by three Toyota Motor Asia high-ups to assess the latest generation nine line was different.
As much as Toyota NZ kept everything under tight control - it advised VIPs were in-country, but wouldn’t allow them to be interviewed (attributed comment here has come from a media release they issued) - no secrecy about the product itself was required.
Although the new line won’t be on sale here until early 2026, it was internationally unveiled in November. So, more of a flag-waving exercise?
Toyota has made clear that this time Thai and Australian design teams primarily collaborated on the updates. It has also previously explained the primary overseas’ location for the exhaustive development programme was Australia.
There’s been no mention of any involvements; not even the highly-common extreme cold weather testing that hordes of brands annually undertake at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground near Queenstown.
Comment from the troupe’s leader, regional chief engineer Anyarat Sutthibenjakul (above), also fuels limpression this Hilux hasn’t had the same NZ pre-release flavouring as past types.
For Sutthibenjakul, last week’s trip was a new journey of discovery.
She has been involved with the Hilux for more than 15 years and has travelled the world to understand the Hilux customer and experience.
But this was her first time here.
“ … I know how customers use the Hilux, but not New Zealand,” she is quoted as saying in the Toyota NZ media share.
After several days in the South Island, putting the latest model through its paces in high country and through braided rivers - the exact locations have not been shared - her view is that we’re very different from other countries.
“There are so many locations that I have never experienced before,” she testified.
She seemed surprised how competent it was.
“With some locations we went to, I never thought that Hilux could make it, you know, crossing the river or climbing up the mountain, but Hilux could do that.
“This made me think, we need to make the vehicle even stronger for customers in the future.
“I asked myself, how I'm going to make one product to meet those country specifications but after long research, almost two years visiting so many locations and talking with hundreds of customers, I would say that that requirement is quite similar to what New Zealand Hilux owners need.”
She felt inspired to share what she has learned with her team in Thailand, where Hilux is built, and with Japan.
“I have strong confidence that what we developed this time for the new Hilux will fit and serve customers well in this country,” she says.
That’s a level of confidence that could lift the spirits of those still getting used to hearing a Kiwi icon has metaphorically gone the way of Phar Lap, pavlova and Crowded House.
Of all the Toyotas sold here, Hilux is the the one we’ve grown most fond of; there’s genuine emotional appeal.
A lot of that was engendered by clever marketing. Those memorable ‘Crumpy and Scotty’ and ‘Bugger' commercials were gold.
Though it’s been a decade since it lost, to Ford Ranger, sector dominance held for an astounding 30 years, Hilux still regularly features in NZ’s 10 best selling vehicles.
Aim earlier this year to establish a new world record for the largest number gathered together in one location, a farm in Southand, reminded of its standing.
Though foiled by absence of Guinness World Records to ratify it, that effort was nonetheless a huge testimony to the model’s status.
How far would you go to help out a mate? The undertaking drew 1440 examples from all around the country; some drove high-mileage and patently time-worn examples for several days to get there.
For seasoned motoring writers, another reason why the ute has also done well is understanding of how much local input there has been. It’s a matter of quiet pride within the local brand.
There’s always been understanding Kiwis have influenced, if mainly modestly, this nameplate’s evolution from a simple farm workhorse into a versatile family and lifestyle vehicle.
Especially during the time of local assembly, 1983 to 1995, but ongoing afterward - at least while it had actual engineers on staff - Toyota NZ was actively encouraged try it early and give honest feedback about how good it was.
Kiwi usage patterns intrigued programme engineers to point they regularly came here to canvas opinion, to see what the truck was being used for and to drive it in the same extreme conditions we tend to rate as an everyday environment.
Toyota NZ was over the years also given factory authority to fine tune suspension and other elements, such as tyre selection.
In the last range, they achieved a rare honour - authority to create a bespoke variant.
Devised as an alternate to the Ranger Raptor, the Hilux Mako was a factory-sanctioned wholly NZ effort. It didn’t quite hit all its marks, wasn’t as fully homegrown as hoped but still stood out as a sterling job.
Will we ever see it’s like again?
Toyota New Zealand has yet to say much about its Hilux intents, but one other signal of possible change was also identified in the media share.
With every past Hilux, introduction to the national press has been high-profile and grand; the biggest media event it lays on. Invites go beyond mainstream motoring media. Rural publications and off-roading outlets also attend, with lots of driving, on road and off, and plenty of presentations.
Because Hilux matters. Because all Hilux news warrants a big headline.
New vehicle and motoring media have a common avenue for alerts to upcoming launch events. Nothing has yet been notified for Hilux.
However, TNZ’s press release also made mention that, in the same period the VIPs were here, it sent some NZ motoring media to Australia, to put “the new Hilux to the test” on tracks in New South Wales. Some images here are from the Australian press pack.
It’s highly unusual for TNZ to invite NZ media overseas, let alone to attend another country’s press launch for any new model. Let alone one that’s become a NZ icon.
Was that the national model launch? The question has been put and remains unanswered.
Perhaps Hilux is just another Kiwi to fly the ditch. The model’s Aussie development has certainly been pushed hard across the Tasman and fair enough. It’s a massive coup.
Hilux there is far more competitive against Ranger, whose wholesale development by engineers in Melbourne has been a cornerstone of its success.
Hilux’s own Aussification would have been celebrated at Toyota Australia’s media gathering. Perhaps with pavlova.
