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The Toyota Hiace was first launched in 1967 and has since gone through a number of different configurations such as the minivan, minibus, pick-up, van, motorhome, ambulance and taxi. The traditional competitor is the Homy from Nissan.

The Hiace Wagon was offered to consumers as a delivery van, cab-over pick up and commuter vehicle. Another name for the Hiace Wagon was the Hiace Commercial; a camper van configuration. Because of rust issues and weather wear, the Hiace Wagon is quite rare to find. Most of the vans that are in Europe are exported to Africa where the weather is dryer and the Hiace Wagon can have a longer useful life there.

In 1977, the new model of the Hiace Wagon had a smoother cab and single headlights. In addition to its gas engine it also had a 2.2 liter diesel on offer in certain markets. For the 20-40 series, the Hiace were super-long wheelbase van, high-roof Commuter and double-cab pickup.

In 1982, the third generation of the Hiace Wagon was released; for several years after some variations of the Hiace were built. The new Hiace van was brought out in 1982 and a short time later the pickup truck. Through the front styling was a bit different, the cab design of the new truck was more common to the much larger Toyoace light truck.

The Commuter and the van were redesigned in 1989 but the pickup only lasted until the mid ‘90s, it was the last Hiace pickup. The fourth generation model, 1989, had either standard wheelbase or long wheelbase. The high roof van with the super long wheelbase shares its body design with the Commuter, a minibus that seats 15.

Ranging from 2 liter gasoline to 3 liter turbo diesel, the generation 4 vehicles had a wide range of engines. Most of they were real-wheel drive and sold on depending on the market and specification level. The basic model was the DX and the upper class models were the CD, GL and the super GL.

A Japanese automotive manufacturer with its based in Hiroshima, Japan, the Mazda Motor Corporation produced almost 1.3 million cars for the global sales market during 2007. Almost 1million of them were produced in the Japanese plant and the rest were produced in various other plants across the globe.

The origins of the Mazda name are of the Avestan language name for the God that was exalted by the Iranian prophet Zoroaster who was the source of intelligence, wisdom and harmony. It is also said that the Mazda name is the basic pronunciation of the name of Mazda’s founder, Jujiro Matsuda who was very interested in spiritualism and was purported to have chosen the name to honor both his family and Zoroastrianism.

Mazda’s company name has always been spelled and pronounced Matsuda. In ads shown on television in the United Stated the word Mazda is pronounced with the first “a” being as the sound of the “a” in “father”, whereas in Canada the “a” is pronounced more as the “a” in “has.” The company, founded in 1920, began as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. It has since been changed a number of times, the next incarnation was Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. They initially were manufacturers of tools and produced weapons for the Japanese military; they soon changed to vehicles and introduced the Mazda-Go in 1931. The weapons that the company produced through the Second World War were the rifles series 3 to 35 Type 99. In 1984 the company finally adopted the Mazda name even though every automobile bore the Mazda name from the beginning. In 1960 Mazda introduced the R360 and then in 1962 the Mazda Carol rolled off the lines.

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