Kijang: From ugly duckling to cherished swan

Imanuddin Razak The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Among the five innovative international multipurpose vehicles (IMVs) introduced during the recent test drive session in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, was the Kijang Innova, the fifth generation of Indonesia's most popular Toyota Kijang van.

The van, popularly referred to as a multipurpose vehicle (MPV), originated from Indonesia and gained its popularity here before it began to make its name abroad.

Currently, Toyota continues to use the name Kijang on the products as it goes global, although there is no certainty that it will keep doing so in the future.

While Toyota has argued that the initial idea for the construction of the Toyota Kijang was the result of a collaboration between Indonesian and Japanese engineers and employees, the initial production of the vans could not be separated from the role of the ruling government at the time, which created the environment for the construction of a cheap, but easy-to-maintain "business-oriented" vehicle.

"The initial concept came from both the Indonesian engineers and employees in Astra (PT Toyota Astra Motor) and their Japanese counterparts, based on our market survey ... The government later came up with a regulation allowing the construction of affordable cars," the president of Toyota's distribution arm in Indonesia PT Toyota Astra Motor, Johnny Darmawan, told The Jakarta Post.

During the initial period of the van's design, the company spent a long time choosing an Indonesian name for the product and working out marketing strategies to encourage Indonesians to buy the locally-produced vehicle. Their work paid off, with the Kijang, or antelope, becoming a recognizable brand.

Nowadays, it is the most sought-after car in Indonesia and prized for its easy maintenance and, most importantly, for the high resale price it commands.

The first generation of a pickup truck Toyota Kijang was launched in June 1977; by 1981 the car was being produced as a pickup truck and a van. Both generations used the same four-speed transmission, but the second used a larger 1,300 cc engine than the 1,200 cc used in the first.

The launching of the van type also triggered a boom in domestic car body manufacturers, with several granted permits to produce Toyota Kijang bodies.

With demand for a more compact and comfortable van increasing, Toyota then came up with a third Toyota Kijang generation introducing a fully pressed body system.

It also came up with a larger 1,500cc engine, and was produced with four- and five-speed gearboxes.

The engine for the third Toyota Kijang generation was later enlarged to 1,800cc in 1992.

In compliance with customer demand for satisfaction and comfort, Toyota launched the fourth Toyota Kijang generation in January 1997, in both manual 4-speed and 5-speed transmission and automatic 4-speed transmission.

This fourth generation of Kijang was also popularly known as the Kijang Kapsul due to its capsule-shaped body.

Similar to the previous Toyota Kijang generations, the fourth- generation Toyota Kijang still used the same K-type gasoline engine. A month later, in February 1997, Toyota launched the diesel-version of the Kijang Kapsul.

In February 2000, Toyota introduced the injection system for its fuel supply system and later in September 2000 introduced the EFI 2.0, which used for the first time the RZ-type engine, replacing the K-type.

The fourth generation lasted until September 2004, when Toyota launched the fifth generation, the Kijang Innova which also used a 2.0L engine.