- « "Well I hate sitting in the back." »
- — Captain Becker on seating positions[src]
The Toyota Hilux is a series of compact pickup trucks produced and marketed by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota. Both the Central Metropolitan University Department of Evolutionary Zoology and the Anomaly Research Centre team owned and used silver Hiluxes.
History
Original timeline (Series 1)
The Central Metropolitan University Department of Evolutionary Zoology owned a silver Hilux branded with the CMU logo on the side. Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart used the Hilux to get to and from work. After Connor Temple told Cutter and Stephen about a creature sighting, they used it to travel to the Forest of Dean. After tracking a Gorgonopsid back from a school, Stephen located it just as it was about to attack Cutter and Claudia Brown. Stephen subsequently rammed the Gorgonopsid, momentarily knocking it unconscious. This event caused significant damage to the bull bar and cracked the windscreen. (Episode 1.1) Sometime later, the bullbar and windscreen were repaired.
When Cutter and Stephen became part of the Home Office Anomaly team, they began to use the Hilux for transportation to creature incursions. After Connor and Abby Maitland had been caught trespassing in the New Forest, Cutter used the Hilux to get to their location. They later used the Hilux to get to Arsenal Station, where prehistoric arachnids had closed down part of the Underground. (Episode 1.2)
The Hilux was used to move diving equipment from an Anomaly incursion at a reservoir, along what turned out to be a temporal fault line, to the Dexter house; the third Anomaly site. (Episode 1.3)
Following a tip from Helen Cutter, the Home Office team travelled to a Football stadium to try to prevent a pack of Smilodon from entering central London. After Abby was tracked down by Tom, who was infected by a prehistoric Parasite, the Hilux was once again used to get to the stadium. (Episode 1.4)
When a golfer was found badly mutilated on a golf course, Cutter, Abby, and Stephen used the Hilux for transportation to the golf course. After locating a Pteranodon on a nearby rooftop, Cutter and Stephen successfully raced the Special Forces team to the location, where they tranquilised it, and brought it back on a trailer. The Hilux was seen in the background as the Pteranodon was released into the anomaly. (Episode 1.5)
The Hilux was used to transport the team back to the Forest of Dean, after the local Anomaly re-opened, letting a family of Future Predators through. After realising that the Future Predator used echolocation to track its prey, Connor was sent back to the Hilux to get an Oscilloscope. When he arrived, a Predator stalked him and climbed on top of the Hilux. The Predator proceeded to attack him, shattering the windscreen in its attempted attack, although it was too big to get him. (Episode 1.6)
Post-original timeline
One of the Hiluxes in a high speed chase (Episode 2.3)
Series 2
At some point in the new timeline, before the second Forest of Dean, the Home Office team moved to the Anomaly Research Centre and the Hilux was subsequently returned to the CMU. The ARC brought two new silver Hiluxes.
After Cutter comes back through the anomaly in the Forest of Dean, the new Hiluxes can be seen in the background. Cutter makes his first trip to the Anomaly Research Centre in one of the Hiluxes. When an anomaly opens at the Castle Cross Shopping Mall, Abby, Connor, Stephen, and Cutter use the Hilux to get to the site. They leave it in the car park as they investigate the incursion. After a Raptor attacks Stephen and Cutter, they return to the truck so that the former could retrieve a sniper rifle. (Episode 2.1)
The ARC team used the new Hiluxes numerous times to get to and from Anomalies sites. They travelled from the ARC to a Inner City Office Block (Episode 2.2) and to Blue Sky Park (Episode 2.3). Cutter once kept one of the ARC's Hiluxes after he was temporarily fired (Episode 2.4), the team then travelled to a Hackney Worksite (Episode 2.5), the M25 (Episode 2.6) and an unknown Anomaly site (Episode 2.7).
Series 3
The ARC team continued to used the trucks to get to Anomalies sites. There were multiple cars as they were seen to be damaged many times, but always returned in good shape.
A Giganotosaurus snaps at the Hilux as they race down a Airport runway. (Episode 3.4)
In the Hiluxes, the team travelled to the Brooks house (Episode 3.2), to the West London Hospital (Episode 3.3) to a Airport and one truck got headbutted by a Giganotosaurus, wrecking the engine. (Episode 3.4) The team escape the ARC when it was taken over, in one of the Hiluxes, and later on, Connor crashed it into a tree (while being chased). (Episode 3.6) Becker transported a unconsciousDracorex back to a Junkyard using a trailer on the truck. (Episode 3.7), Helen Cutter once stole one, (Episode 3.9) and Sarah Page once used one truck's door to protect herself from a Megopteran , which smashed the window (Episode 3.10).
Between Series 3 and Series 4
After a four month closure, the Anomaly Research Centre changed its vehicles from the Toyota Hilux to the Mitsubishi L-200. It is unknown what happened to the Hiluxes.
Trivia
- Due to their robust nature, Hiluxes are often call "unbreakable". This was also portrayed in Primeval as the Hilux would be often be damaged in an episode, then appear as good as new in the next episode.
- The type of Hilux was upgraded between each Primeval series;
- In Series 1, it was 2006, 2.5 D-4D Invincible. This Hilux had a roof rack and a side-mounted lamp.
- In Series 2, it was 2007, 3.0 D-4D Invincible. These Hiluxes had black rims, added front-mounted/roof-mounted headlamps and a back tray cover but lacked the roof racks and bull bar.
- In Series 3, it was 2008, 3.0 D-4D Invincible. These Hiluxes had added front-mounted tow winches and roll-bars. They had silver rims and lacked the back tray cover.