Toyota has gone ahead and fully revealed its facelifted HiLux that will go on sale in Europe before the end of the year. For 2009, Toyota’s popular pick-up truck benefits from a series of styling, technical and equipment upgrades. On the outside, the subtle styling tweaks include the new trapezoidal grille and grey plate bar along with the more heavily profiled bumper and the new 15 and 17-inch alloy wheels. Inside the ’09 HiLux has been updated with a new four-spoke steering wheel with integrated controls for the audio system and multi-information display and a new air conditioning system. Toyota says it has also revised the instrument cluster and controls for the wipers and lights. -Continued

Under the skin, Toyota has upgraded the 169bhp (171 HP) 3.0 D-4D diesel engine in the automatic version with an increase of 17Nm in maximum torque to 360Nm. Moreover, the Japanese automaker replaced the available four-speed automatic transmission with a new five-speed unit that promises to improve performance and fuel consumption. According to Toyota, fuel efficiency in the combined cycle for the automatic version is increased from 30.1 to 31.7 mpg UK.

Toyota’s engineers also tweaked the suspension settings and added a new double-row roller-type rear axle bearings and more responsive valve structure on the front shock absorbers along with new bushes. Additionally, the new Hilux gains larger brakes with 297mm diameter ventilated front discs and 295mm drums for all four-wheel drive models, apart from the models equipped with VSC, which have 319mm ventilated front discs.

Depending on the market, Toyota says that it has improved the standard equipment on all models across the HiLux range.