The Volkswagen Hilux - Yes, you read that properly! | VW Taro | 427 Motorsports

[@chrisbiewer-rallye-info]

Interesting. Forgot about that VW Taro. One mistake is in there, though: 1:33 to the VW LT = Lasten Transporter, Lasten does not mean Junior, it means Cargo. As such the name does make sense. In any way VW used to be quite good with their names, very much in contrast to their BEVs today, which are all called ID. Even the name ID is stolen from Citroen, no imagination whatsoever here. In their commercial vehicles back then they had Transporter, Cargo Transporter (LT) and then this Taro, and here I understand the name was derived from the word Tara, which is the difference between net and gross. The goods' net weight plus the (VW) Tara gives the gross weight. So again quite clever and fitting.

[@427Motorsports]

Yeah someone corrected me on that already - I translated the wrong word 🥲 cheers for the comment!’

[@Michel-r6m]

​@@427MotorsportsLast = load/cargo in context.

[@Joe-hb6ek]

My dad used to own the US Toyota version of it that was imported to germany, it was sich a nice car! He also engine swapped it and lowered it and getting thick ass rear tires!

[@grantlingley1385]

Love the video and the history! Those viewing are pretty darn knowledgeable as well so fun to read the comments as well! A great start to my Sunday morning!

[@427Motorsports]

Thank you! The comments honestly blow me away, it's fascinating. I only wish the information that a lot of our commenters have was available when I was doing the research for the topic!

[@sinisatrlin840]

We still have few of these around, very reliable, cast iron engine, double belts. My friend has one, it is more than 30 years old. He service his Taro with only genuine parts, and when he orders parts (filters and belts, mainly) from our local VW dealership (Porsche xxx), he gets parts in Toyota boxes, and Toyota logo on all parts. His Taro has accumulated about 800 000 km, and it is still going strong.

[@JC-zg4xe]

The VW dealership just goes to the Toyota dealer haha

[@sinisatrlin840]

@@JC-zg4xe I doubt it, i think that parts arrived through VW network. After all it is rebadged Toyota that VW assembled from 100% Toyota parts. My friend wants genuine parts, and that is what he gets, othervise stealership would install him aftermarket and charge it as genuine.

[@JC-zg4xe]

@@sinisatrlin840 Yeah that’s probably true, we had heaps of just straight badges swaps in 80s and 90s. Now these cars are older sometimes they will just send you to the dealer that actually manufactured the car haha.

[@sinisatrlin840]

@@JC-zg4xe Most of the vans, light delivery cars and light trucks are still rebadged. For example, Citan, Caddy, Amarok, Vivaro, ProAce, Talento.... Piaggio Porter is common comunal XLight truck in my city, and it is rebadged Daihatsu Kei truck.

[@eirik_halvorsen]

I’m pretty convinced that Galaxy and Sharan is a collaboration, not a rebadging.

[@Norskenxtreme]

Best car with a VW badge ever!

[@jkk244]

In the US, we got a version of the HiLux (called unimaginatively the “Toyota Pickup”) until 1995 when the US-designed Toyota Tacoma pickup was introduced to this market. No HiLux for the US. The Tacoma and HiLux look similar but are different pickups.

[@NotthatNeil]

Also, I don’t think we ever had a diesel version.

[@vincentrobinet2713]

When it was intoduced in Canada we did get the Hilux badge, but years later that name was dropped and the US naming convention took over.

[@grantlingley1385]

10 K Subscribers, gosh you guys should be so much ahead of that number but you should know we really appreciate your work, your style and knowledge as well!entertaining and informative as well! Have a great weekend. Oh, I am in Nova Scotia Canada just for interest sake!

[@427Motorsports]

Thank you so much for this - and that’s so cool that you’re from Nova Scotia, as massive Trailer Park Boys fans 😂

[@Michel-r6m]

In the 90's I was a proud co-owner of a T2 Westfalia (bought for vacation and sold after). Very fond memories 🤠

[@hubertbalkenhol7690]

And the new Amarok is a Ford Ranger, the new VW Transporter T7 is a Ford Transit Custom. 😢

[@grantlingley1385]

T7, this I did not know! Cool!

[@simonward1598]

I have a Taro it's an '89 and 4x4! Also 2 Hi Lux and a T4 and a PD 100 Golf. Ohh btw it's gen 3 that we're dealing with not gen 5 😊

[@eirik_halvorsen]

VW Taro is probably one of my most desired VW models. The two that came home with me is badged Toyota though. I’ve loved Taros since I was a kid in the early nineties. The logo in the grill wasn’t relevant when I bought mine. But if I had got one rebadged one I might have found a better grill 😂

[@chrisrutherford3862]

Yep had a VW Taro 2.2 petrol pick up when you did the math's it was cheaper than the Diesel to buy and run /service back in the day Good on ya Tomo

[@PaulGuiry]

And they're doing it again with the Transitporter

[@Random-nf7qb]

Can you make a video on these models: -Passat B3/B4 -Sharan/Alhambra/Galaxy -Touran (first car on the PQ35 platform and an example of nearsightedness or low effort, with how the 3rd row was executed and how much it borrowed from other models throughout its lifetime)

[@427Motorsports]

Can indeed! I’ve added them to my videos list. Now the 50 Years of Golf series is over with it’s time to branch out 😇

[@Random-nf7qb]

The Sharan is particularly interesting in that it lived through 4 generations of Golf Coming out with the 3rd gen, outliving the 4th, then 5th, and finally being retired in 2010 after the 6th gen had come out

[@alexmacdonald4270]

Interesting, didn’t know that . Love your accent Tomo. 👍

[@marcusgarvie4758]

They were a nightmare to get parts for, vw sent me to toyota and toyota sent me back to vw, left with second hand parts

[@brentmcmillan5071]

I remember seeing a Army service dualcab Hilux with VW badges in Europe 20+ years ago.

[@RobG1981]

Bundeswehr (German army) or another NATO country stationed in Germany?

[@tomas9830]

Wait until he finds out about the VW Apollo, a Ford Escort rebaged for Brasil😊

[@427Motorsports]

On the list for a video 😉

[@c.n.crowther438]

lasten does not mean junior. it means load. load transporter.

[@ReodorF1]

I have seen used one for sale and those with toyota logo is priced higher 😂

[@jeremywentworth1833]

1 of our cars is a badge engineered car its a Cadillac BLS 2.0T anyone who knows cars knows the only thing Cadillac on it are the badges it was even designed at Trollhatten & built there. Reason i bought it was simply to be different from buying another 9-3 after 3 Saabs.

[@lesklower7281]

Probably the best VW apart from the Type 1 2 and 3 and l own a fifth generation Toyota Hilux the Australian version yes because been a 1997 Hilux it had a carburator and no cat converter and the ultra reliable 22R engine mine is a 2X4 with the aluminium tray single cab and quarter (vent) windows manual with air-conditioning which in this configuration is the most valuable 5th generation Toyota Hilux and there were no 4X4s and l have only seen one 4 Runner plenty of 5th generation utes driving around still been used by trades people still doing ute stuff with hundreds of thousands of kilometres on them and don't forget the 5th generation Toyota Hilux is over built over engineered indestructible unbreakable reliable and dependable you could say the best vehicle ever made

[@clangerbasher]

No. All those subsidiaries use VW floorpans. VW will know full well they haven't got a particular class of vehicle in production.

[@427Motorsports]

…aye well I didn’t say they woke up one morning and were surprised by the fact, I just said they didn’t have one.

[@EudesRJ]

If you want a small VW pickup, why not importing a VW Saveiro from Brazil?

[@RobG1981]

It was never officially sold in Europe, a repair shop would probably not even know what it is. It would be like bringing a Ford Ka to a North American dealership.

[@DerekCully]

I thought Tatra of the present day cezch Republic, was the inspiration for the VW?

[@metricstormtrooper]

Yeah definitely but not for the type 2, there's no torque tube like chassis of the Tatra/Beetle.

[@JC-zg4xe]

VW are back to rebadging, the new Amarok is a Ford Ranger

[@Bruski001]

sadly turning rare in germany

[@peterjanvanbijnen226]

i wiched that they started again with the hilux , and not an bad ford product what they do now

[@BasilPunton]

Most countries get the Hilux. For several years, it was the best-selling vehicle in Australia.

[@BasilPunton]

Very poor explanation of badge engineering. It was first applied to BMC (in the 1960s) with several car brands and building one model with different badges (Morris, Austin, Riley, etc.), but nothing really different. Where two different companies get together to build a car, this is not true badge engineering but cooperative (shared) engineering. General Motors has become a big badge engineering company. But with a difference where the brands are usually in different markets. A few years ago, Opel and Vauxhall in the UK, and Opel and Holden in Australia. Cars were the same, but different badges and some cabin trim differences.

[@427Motorsports]

That’s a great explanation of one element of badge engineering yes. But as I said in the video, there are many different aspects of badge engineering and this is what is relevant to the video. I specifically said about not talking in this video about the one umbrella releasing the same model under their different brands - VW with Audi and seat, and then in your instance, the shite that is GM and Opel and Vauxhall. I pointed out that the badge engineering I was talking about was companies who aren’t necessarily related or blatantly owned by the other. But thank you for writing a lovely paragraph and helping our algorithm without actually listening to what was being said.

[@Subgunman]

Toyota + GM= Saturn, Toyota backing out = GM+ Opel = Saturn post Toyota. What about Renault and Nissan? VW Amarok= overpriced pickup truck.

[@lorenzfriedmann2829]

Lasten doesn’t mean junior…? Lmao what. False info bud.

[@427Motorsports]

Read prior comments - Translated wrong word by accident! Lesson learned 🤣

[@StC-j5k]

the modern hilux is quite frankly ... crap