Toyota took four Hilux vehicles, between November 10 and December 5, across Antarctica proving that its pickup is all but unstoppable. In total, the vehicles covered over 4,600 km with temperatures down to minus 56°C and an altitude of 3,400 m.
The pickups were prepared by Artic Trucks, but the 3.0 L D-4D diesel engines remained entirely unchanged for the expedition. The Hilux proved to have lower fuel consumption and higher average speed than any equivalent Antarctic vehicle. The term low is relatively speaking, since we are talking about a fuel consumption of 50 L/100 km, but this figure is 5 to 8 times lower than that achieved by tracked vehicles. That's important when one barrel of oil in Antarctica can cost up to $10,000…!
