The legendary Toyota truck, along with the Kalashnikov, is one of the most widely used brands in conflicts in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond. Massive columns of armed Toyota Hilux and Land Cruisers were first spotted being utilized in Daesh propaganda movies in Iraq, Syria, and Libya in 2014, drawing attention to the brand’s importance in contemporary combat.
One of the main causes of this can be linked to an ISIS terrorist parade that passed through Raqqa’s city center. Over two-thirds of the automobiles, according to Reaper Feed, were reportedly Toyota SUVs. However, Toyota pickup trucks have been used in modern combat before 2014. Yet why?
The in question vehicle is the preferred option for irregular, non-state, or weak-state forces that lack access to or cannot afford vast logistic chains for military vehicles like tanks. They frequently have to travel swiftly through rocky terrain and crowded areas. The Toyota checks all the necessary boxes for handling such a duty because it is durable and incredibly dependable. The truck’s bed also has the ideal dimensions for big weapons to fit inside.
We have been known to employ a dependable Toyota or two to get our customers across rough terrain on our YPT journeys around the Middle East and Africa. For instance, on a recent trip to the largest arms exhibition in the world, we used a fleet of Toyota pickup trucks to travel quickly through the Jordanian desert. Check it out yourself:
The little Toyota SUV was so prominently at the heart of a 1987 battle between Chad and Libya that it earned the nickname “The Toyota War” in the 1980s. Chadian military employed Toyota Hilux and Land Cruisers in their conflict with Colonel Gaddafi’s Libyan forces to enhance mobility. In contrast to the 1,000 soldiers killed in Chad, Libya suffered a disastrous setback in the battle, losing an estimated $1.5 billion in military hardware and 7,500 soldiers.
“Toyota has a rigorous policy against selling cars to anybody who might modify them or use them for paramilitary or terrorist operations.
Even Soviet soldiers in the Soviet-Afghan War had no problem using Toyota’s capitalist technology. There are several images of Soviet soldiers, particularly Spetznaz special forces, driving Hilux or Land Cruisers equipped with DShKs or other vintage Soviet-made weapons.
The Toyota technical started to show up in a number of wars from Africa to the Middle East in the 1990s and early 2000s. It quickly established a position on all sides of numerous heated confrontations. Its dependability and toughness were valued by both friends and enemies, from the Northern Alliance and the Taliban to ISIS and the Iraqi Army.
Although many people, including the U.S. Government, have blamed the well-known Japanese automaker for the vast majority of their vehicles ending up in the hands of terrorists, guerillas, and paramilitary groups worldwide, it is not really the automakers’ responsibility. When Toyota was questioned, the spokeswoman for the car company responded as follows.
“Toyota has a rigorous policy against selling cars to anybody who might modify them or use them for paramilitary or terrorist operations. However, it is hard for any automaker to prevent the use of shady or illegal routes by independent third parties to misappropriate, steal, or resell our automobiles.
The finest phrase to sum up this post is from Auto Evolution, which reads as follows: “The Toyota pickup truck is vital to people in the Western world, but never forget that this simple tool you haul and tow goods with also has the capacity to shape the borders of the world we’re living in.
In This Article...
Does Toyota provide vehicles to ISIS?
According to an ABC News report, Toyota, the second-largest automaker in the world, has stated that it is assisting a US investigation into how the Islamic State terrorist group (also known as ISIS) obtained the substantial number of Toyota pick-up trucks and SUVs that are featured in its propaganda videos.
Why do thugs drive Toyota pickup trucks?
One of Toyota’s most devoted and unfortunate customers returned to power on August 15 when the Taliban rode into Kabul and took control of the presidential palace.
Use Toyota by the Taliban?
Since the Taliban and other terrorist groups have long favored Toyota trucks and SUVs, “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal spoke with Utpal Dholakia, a professor of marketing at Rice University, about what the political upheaval in Afghanistan would imply for the brand of the car manufacturer.
Why are Toyota trucks employed during combat?
Australian IT journalist Cate Lawrence resides in Berlin. She is particularly interested in e-bikes, autonomous vehicles, VTOL, and smart cars.
Australian IT journalist Cate Lawrence resides in Berlin. She focuses on anything related to mobility, including e-bikes, autonomous cars, VTOLs, smart cities, and the potential of renewable energy sources like solar, hydrogen, and electric batteries.
We have been bombarded with news photographs this week of guys crammed into truck beds with military assault rifles. Toyota is the brand of choice for them.
Toyota pickup trucks have historically been employed by militias as weapons of war, particularly in the Middle East. The vehicles are small, quick, fuel-efficient, and ideally adapted to the terrain in the area. Kyle Mizokami noted in 2013:
“For the price of only one tank, you could buy 266 of them. Additionally, it is simpler to maintain and more reliable than a tank.
Toyotas are used for more than just fighting in Afghanistan. They are utilized in Somalia by warlords. Officials in charge of humanitarian relief even paid terrorists for the vehicles to make sure the aid got where it needed to go.
Why does Toyota appeal to the Taliban?
Creating Mobility for All is one of Toyota’s company slogans, but it’s certainly not what they had in mind when they posted widely circulated videos of the Taliban driving their cars around.
The Taliban’s rebirth serves as an unwelcome reminder that Afghan militants have preferred Toyota pickup trucks and SUVs for the past 25 years.
Toyota has reason to feel gratified in some aspects. Because they are reliable and can withstand the harsh desert conditions, Toyotas are popular among the Taliban.
Toyotas are reasonably priced when compared to other high-performance cars, and replacement parts are widely available.
However, as you might expect, Toyota is embarrassed by the association and is taking precautions to make sure the Taliban cannot obtain the newest Land Cruiser model.
Why do Muslims own Toyota vehicles?
Tokyo:
Toyota announced on Thursday that it was willing to assist in the US investigation into how the Islamic State organization came into possession of so many of its renownedly durable trucks.
After an ABC News story on Wednesday claimed that US Treasury counterterrorism officials had spoken with the auto giant about the matter, the Japanese manufacturer reacted.
Toyota truck fleets are a familiar sight in IS propaganda movies from Syria, Iraq, and Libya; many of them have been modified into mobile heavy weapon platforms known as “technicals.”
Toyota released a statement saying, “We are supporting the US Treasury Department’s comprehensive investigation into global supply networks and the flow of capital and goods in the Middle East.”
Toyota stated that it had a rigorous policy against selling cars to those who would modify them or use them for paramilitary or terrorist operations.
Due to their accessibility, adaptability, and durability, Toyota pick-up trucks as well as comparable models built by Mitsubishi, Hyundai, and Isuzu have long been favored by a variety of militias, insurgencies, and armies worldwide.
Because of the military victories Chadian forces achieved because of the quick-moving pickups, the closing stages of a struggle between Libya and Chad in the late 1980s are frequently referred to as “The Toyota War.”
The BBC’s Top Gear program once attempted to completely demolish a Toyota pick up by setting it on fire, whacking it with a wrecking ball, and even placing it on top of a building that was later detonated. This was done in honor of the show’s tough reputation.
Each time, mechanics with a small toolset were able to revive the ravaged 4×4.
The Islamic State organization boasts a big number of pickup trucks in its movies. The group has amassed enormous amounts of military equipment throughout its ascent, much of it US military equipment left by retreating Iraqi friends.
ISIS has used these vehicles to carry out military-style operations, terrorist acts, and similar activities, according to Mark Wallace, a former US ambassador who is currently in charge of a counterterrorism initiative, who spoke to ABC News.
It was further stated that “almost every ISIS video shows a fleet a convoy of Toyota automobiles, and that’s quite alarming to us.” Iraqi officials were quoted in the same report as stating they worried new pick-up trucks were being smuggled into IS-controlled areas from nearby nations.
Toyota said in its statement that it has strong “procedures and contractual requirements” in place to attempt and prevent the cars from ending up in the wrong hands.
The statement continued, “However, it is hard for any automaker to monitor unlawful or unofficial routes via which our vehicles may be misappropriated, stolen, or resold by unaffiliated third parties.”
How are Toyotas acquired by terrorists?
In addition to being able to handle Afghanistan’s challenging terrain, the trucks are also popular with other terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS. They are also sophisticated enough to be modified with heavy equipment.
Journalists from India Today recounted how “tanks and ammunition-laden Toyota Hilux trucks raced into Afghanistan’s capital” when the Taliban initially assaulted the presidential palace in 1996. The New York Times declared in 2001 that the trucks were “excellent platforms for intimidation and enforcement.”
The Taliban were prepared to jump out of their Land Cruisers and Hiluxes and beat women for revealing a hint of an ankle or to hold a man in a cargo container for three weeks until his beard reached the required length. Or perhaps the most depressing option would be to drag a suspected adulterer or blasphemer to the soccer stadium for death.
On September 27, 2001, Afghan Taliban combatants sat in the back of a pickup truck as they traveled to the fighting lines north of Kabul.
(AFP file photo)
Toyota has long sought to separate itself from terrorism and has openly backed a US Treasury Department inquiry into how terrorists are able to obtain its automobiles.
When the Toyota Land Cruiser, the brand’s longest-running model, went on sale for the 2022 model year, the carmaker also unveiled a new policy. The car manufacturer revealed that anyone purchasing one had to sign a contract committing not to resell the vehicle within a year after it went on sale in Japan on August 2 for about $46,500.
Toyota reaffirmed the rationale for this clause in a statement. Toyota claimed that the Land Cruiser is “especially well-liked abroad, and we are concerned about the movement of vehicles from Japan to abroad immediately after their introduction, as well as the chance that they may be transported to certain countries where security laws are in force.
Selling Toyotas to prohibited organizations like terrorist organizations or rogue regimes may result in legal repercussions. According to Toyota’s statement, there is a chance of breaking foreign currency laws, which, depending on the country of export, could result in serious issues that jeopardize international security.
They can also be obtained by terrorist organizations in dishonest ways. Humanitarian groups like the Red Cross and the United Nations, which Toyota has provided with 150,000 vehicles over the past forty years, choose Toyota SUVs.
Due to the fact that international relief organizations work in so many underdeveloped nations, their vehicles may be targeted by terrorists who may steal them, purchase them from unregistered dealers, or locate them through other means.
What model of Toyota do rebels drive?
According to ABC News, US authorities have recently asked Toyota to determine why so many ISIS propaganda use its automobiles.
ISIS has amassed hundreds of brand-new Toyota pickup trucks in recent years as it has grown in power in Iraq and Syria, according to Lukman Faily, the ambassador of Iraq to the US, who spoke to ABC.
According to Faily, “We have been posing this query to our neighbors.” How could these hundreds of brand-new four-wheel drives, including hundreds of brand-new vehicles, arrive from where?
However, ISISalso referred to as the Islamic State, ISIL, and Daeshis not the only terrorist organization to select the truck manufacturer’s rugged models.
The Toyota Hilux pickup has been a staple of numerous extremist movements over the past few decades, as Ravi Somaiya noted in Newsweek in 2010.
Former US Army Ranger and current US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East affairs Andrew Exum told Newsweek that “the Toyota Hilux is everywhere.” “It is the AK-47’s automobile counterpart. It is common to insurgency conflict. And more recently, counterinsurgency operations. The Humvee gets the crap kicked out of it.”
Terrorists fighting against lightly armed special forces have reportedly found the Hilux to be a reliable truck.
According to Alastair Finlan, a strategic studies expert at Aberystwyth University in the UK, the truck is “fast, nimble, and packs a huge punch [when it’s mounted with] a 50-caliber [machine gun] that easily destroys body armor on soldiers and penetrates lightly protected vehicles as well.”
Toyota automobiles for sale in Afghanistan?
Since the 1960s, the Japanese carmaker has been producing the Corolla, which was dubbed the best-selling car in the world by 1974. This compact family car, which is synonymous with dependability and usefulness, is marketed all over the world.
But one nation in particularand that nation is Afghanistanhas kind of fallen in love with this specific paradigm.
The Toyota Corolla is a well-liked vehicle in Afghanistan, just as the Ford Mustang is in the United States. This car is cherished for a variety of causes, including:
- Price Despite the high import duties imposed on foreign vehicles, many Afghan drivers find the Toyota Corolla to be fairly reasonable. Although people in Afghanistan also buy brand-new models, the most popular models are typically those that are a few years old.
- Practicality
- Obviously, there are many various types of cars in the globe, each with a unique design and size. The Toyota Corolla is the ideal small to medium-sized family vehicle since it provides plenty of comfort, adequate interior and trunk capacity, and essential equipment like air conditioning.
- Reliability
- Particularly when produced by firms like Toyota, who frequently go to great efforts to guarantee that their vehicles are built to the highest quality standards, Japanese cars are well recognized for their dependability.
- Access to replacement parts
- Toyota Corollas make up a significant fraction of the vehicles on Afghan roads, making replacement parts very accessible. Although there is a tendency for many people to recycle model-damaged part, there is also a good supply of fresh parts.
- decent on gas
- This car’s popularity is also due to the fact that it provides a good balance of fuel efficiency and engine performance, which is crucial when residing and working in a place like Afghanistan.
Even the vast majority of the city’s yellow taxi cabs are Toyota Corollas, if you ever travel to Afghanistan and roam around Kabul’s city streets, for instance. General Asadullah Khan, the head of Kabul’s traffic police, estimates that up to 80% of the vehicles on the city’s bustling, frequently clogged streets are Toyota Corollas.
Author bio: Bradley Taylor is a freelance writer who specializes in writing about all things cars but covers a wide range of topics. He enjoys exploring new places and learning about everything. He is accessible on Google+ and Twitter.