That truck has been roaming the world for decades, and Toyota will be unleashing some particularly aggressive-looking versions soon. The company's Australia division announced the introduction of the Rugged X, Rugged and Rogue versions.
The toughest of the bunch are the Rugged variants. The Rugged X, shown in orange, adds a black grille and a beefy off-road bumper up front with an integrated LED off-road light bar and room for a winch. Below that is a skid plate and rock rails for undercarriage protection. Up on top are a snorkel and a sports bar, not to mention graphics and badging. The regular Rugged, shown in white, has a different off-road bumper with brush guard hoops for additional protection from flora and fauna. Toyota also notes that the bumper doesn't affect crash protection or air bag activation either. The regular Rugged appears to do without the skid plates, but still has rock rails.
The Rogue trim level is easily the most mild. It's shown as the truck in silver and has a black grille and a normal front bumper with revised styling. It also gets the sports bar over the bed.
Obviously, none of these Hiluxes will come to America since they haven't been built to pass American emissions and safety testing, to say nothing of the fact that we already have the Tacoma. Plus, Nissan would probably have something to say about the Rogue trim level. But we shouldn't despair, since the Tacoma is a solid truck, and it has its own tough trim levels such as the TRD Pro. We also have access to the ultra-capable Colorado ZR2, and Ford has promised the Ranger for America, which has a Raptor variant coming.
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