Well , I knew a bloke who was a diesel mechanic & Toyota nutter - he pinpointed the exact time when the Hilux went into decline & that was with the introduction of the MY05 model . This happened to coincide with the ceasing of sales in Japan & moving production to Thailand & Malaysia . .Design & build quality suffered badly . the once indestructible Hilux started to rattle apart . The decline has continued .
As was pointed out - go have a look at the prices paid for those early 2000 diesel Hilux on the second hand market - A SR5 can cost you today what they were worth new in 2004 with 250K on the clock
So yeh , talk about living on past glories . But it is still the biggest selling car in Australia ( thanks to the mining industry) but utes like the Ranger have closed the gap ( despite their own problems) .. particularly in the premium 4x4 segment.
It still surprises me how the Hilux still leads this segment - Maybe the DPF class action will put the sword to that then again maybe not.
Chris