Ever wonder where all those Toyotas you see on the news in developing countries come from?
So, after watching a friend’s video again on You Tube (I’m guessing views from other sites don’t count? As it’s 500+ views on Oppo...) this video popped into my feed ‘A Day in the life of a Land Cruiser’ from the slightly mysteriously named Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings (TGS).
For those that don’t know Gibraltar is an small area located (literally) off south coast of Spain, next stop the north coast of Africa.
It is the tip of a peninsula off the Spanish mainland, however, very much British territory for the last 300 years or so. A disputed territory? Yes, but not really...
In June last year, 99 per cent voted to remain in the UK.
I go that from The Sun, don’t hate me. I already hate myself...
Thanks to Top Gear everyone knows about the Falklands, and how the UK acts towards its last remnants of the British Empire (if anyone thinks the historical connection was lost on Clarkson, they maybe haven’t seen what is arguably his best work, amongst many other war history pieces).
Anyway, what has all this got to do with Land Cruisers? Well, it would seem that the official arm of building Toyotas for NGOs, GOs, UN, etc. Comes out of basically a rock, with 30,000 people speaking English and driving around with British number plates on a small (very - 2.6 Square miles) part of Spain.
So, the video is a standard Land Cruiser bolt on build, plus painting it. At first I wondered why they bothered with the re-paint. Why not just order it in that (standard Toyota) colour? I’m guessing the turnover is high enough they just order stock Toyotas and then just build them to suit, quicker than waiting on a special order from the factory.
https://www.toyota-gib.com/eng/index.html
Points to note:
- Everything from 200 series to Corolla’s are available. Although the offering is dominated by Toyota’s proper off-road 4x4's.
- The gear is all the established brands. ARB, Warn, etc. Yup that stuff costs, but you get what you pay for. All these vehicles are still covered by the Toyota warranty.
- I never knew what the big benefit to those split rim wheels were till I watched this video. I’m guessing they only work with tubes though, anyone know?
- The various 70 series which make up the biggest range in their line up are all non-turbo 1HZ diesels - make of that what you will for common rail in developing countries. As our Africa correspondent recently discovered, a unhappy common rail 70 is not really suited to touring in the third world.
- In fact most of the engines are at least a model cycle behind. Also a petrol V6 200 series? That’s new one. Safe to say these trucks prioritise reliability and dependability in their chosen environment over ‘performance’ and showroom appeal.
I suppose the extent of the operation helps clear up why so many other manufacturers have given up on this market. Even though a tiny place like Gibraltar seems an unlikely destination for an operation such as this. Its proximity to the African continent, whilst having UK levels of support, connections and organisation, it begins to make a lot more sense.
Photos all TGS - I’m just finalising my order now...