Interestingly enough, Hilux/Fortuner and Corolla models are what they send to most 3rd world/2nd world periphery nations/markets.
The Hilux is based on the IMV platform: International Mobility Vehicle which was developed, interestingly enough, under the guidance of Akio Toyota when he was still mid-level management charged with a new vehicle platform in the SE Asian market (specifically Thailand).
Regardless of his name, he had to make his bones just like everyone else at Toyota. I respect that about Toyota. If he had failed, they would have put him in some board of a 2nd Tier supplier and let him live out his family legacy playing with fast cars.
But he didn’t do that: he spearheaded the development of a global platform vehicle that is essential to Toyota’s global manufacturing and sales strategy of modular mobility with multiple power plants.
Smart company.