AIMS: Softer HiLux makes Fortuner

Toyota’s facelifted HiLux will greet the public at this Friday’s Australian International Motor Show (AIMS). And as one of Australia’s top-selling models, it’s therefore arguably one of the more important unveilings at the Melbourne auto industry extravaganza

But there’s a stronger Aussie connection than just sales success – and it’s styling. Indeed, while the styling of the facelift vehicle was carried out in Japan, Toyota Style Australia (TSA) was heavily integrated into the process.

TSA is a quiet achiever for Toyota Australia, carrying out projects for markets outside the country in a similar way to Ford and Holden’s design and engineering operations. Headed by Toyota ‘fixture’ Paul Beranger, the studio is a ‘go to’ destination for Toyota globally.

TSA’s connection to the new HiLux was explained by Beranger at this week’s preview of Toyota’s impressive AIMS new car line-up. There the experienced design head revealed that the local studio had been charged with the responsibility to redesign the Fortuner – a seven-seat three-row wagon based on HiLux and sold in key ASEAN markets and South Africa.

According to Beranger, the styling requirements for his team’s redesign of Fortuner became key deliverables for the Japan-based HiLux team.

“TSA was given the gig of doing the [Fortuner] facelift design. [And] Because it was Fortuner it was also the HiLux itself, so there was a lot of work we did with Japan with the HiLux,” Beranger explained.

“They took responsibility with the ‘face’ of the HiLux but we worked collaboratively on all the sheet metal on the front. The vehicle’s effectively all-new from the front and on the Fortuner it’s got a new rear end as well – and we were responsible for that,” he said.

Beranger continued: “There was a lot of negotiation [between TSA and Japan] because when you are trying to share panels and trying to share underbody parts, you’ve got to negotiate your ‘space’.”

According to Beranger TSA was briefed to better differentiate the Fortuner more from its humble ute origins in its next generation.

“The HiLux image was still keeping it strongly commercial. [While] The Fortuner was moving more into a prestige market in Asia…. The Fortuner facelift was clearly moving in the Lexus direction,” Beranger stated.

Beranger confirmed that the HiLux and Fortuner facelifts just completed will take the vehicles through to the 2014-15 model year. It’s not until that stage that Toyota Australia is likely to consider the HiLux based wagon for local consumption.

Toyota’s product planning boss Peter Macgregor told the Carsales Network the Fortuner is a vehicle that it has “been interested in for some period of time” but he cautioned not to expect the car Down Under soon.

“It’s probably not facelift timing [for local introduction]. If we were able to do it we’d be looking at the next generation. [But] It’s something we’re continually studying because I do believe there is a role for that vehicle here in Australia,” Macgregor stated.

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