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Toyota Australia has announced that it will unveil the production version of the supercharged TRD HiLux Concept that we saw last year in Melbourne (click here) at the Brisbane International Motor Show. Queensland manager Sean Hanley said the TRD HiLux had completed all testing and would begin production in the second half of February with sales starting in the second quarter of 2008.

Although Toyota has yet to give out specific performance figures, the Japanese carmaker did reveal that the supercharged 4.0-litre V6’s maximum power will gain more than 25 per cent compared with the standard engine's 235 HP, meaning that output should be close to 300 HP. Along with the supercharged engine, TRD engineers also enhanced the HiLux’s suspension, brakes and styling.

It’s quite hard to believe that this is an official creation from Toyota and not something that came straight off an episode of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” TV series. Due to make its debut at the 2007 UK Commercial Vehicle Show (24 to 26 April), the “pimped” Hilux Sport Concept is the work of the Toyota GB and it features monster-sized 22-inch alloys, a sport trucktop, chrome-finished grille and B-pillars, tinted windows and lights and a special-design front guard. Toyota Motorsport also took a shot on the stock 3.0-litre D-4D diesel engine increasing output from 169 to around 200bhp. And in case you’re worried, Toyota has no plans of putting the Hilux Sport Concept into production. -One more pic after the jump

Technorati: Toyota+Hilux, Commercial+Vehicle+Show, auto+news, car+news, automobile, cars, automotive, vehicles, Carscoop, blogs, 2007

Toyota Australia is planning to unveil the Aurion TRD along with the Hilux TRD at the Melbourne International Motor Show on 2 March. Starting off with the Aurion TRD, this is the production version of the Aurion Sports Concept shown at the Australian International Motor Show in October 2006. Albeit a bit toned down in comparison with the concept, the Aurion TRD manages to stand out from the standard models thanks to a full bodykit that includes redesigned bumpers and a set of lovely black rims. Under the hood, the Aurion TRD hides a supercharged 3.5-litre V6 that drives the… front wheels. Personally I’d find that a good enough reason to go for a rear wheel-drive Ford Falcon or a Holden Commodore, but hey; that’s just me.

As for the Hilux TRD, now this sounds very, very interesting and I’m not talking about appearance here. See according to Toyota, the top-spec Hilux will be equipped with a supercharged 4.0-litre V6. As with the Aurion TRD, Toyota hasn’t announced any performance figures but I’m pretty certain that this “thing” has enough oomph stored under its hood for a perfect “tango” on a winding gravel mountain road… -Continued: Click “Read More…” below to check out the official press release