Date sent: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 10:26:20 -0700 From: Henry & Kate Cubillan Organization: Toyota Trails To: Diesel Land Cruiser List Subject: [DTLC] Interesting Factoid Send reply to: dtlc@helios.net I just finished a 20 page paper, an assessment on the economical and political environment in Venezuela and the viability of investing in the Automotive Industry there. Among the pages and pages of preliminary research, I stumbled across this bit: "...The only firm authorized by the Venezuelan government to assemble V8-equipped or diesel engine-equipped vehicles is Toyota. Production of 75 series cab/chassis (with diesel engines) is very low (350 units per year) and is for export only...The biggest customers for these units are mining operations in Canada, the rest go to Central America and the Pacific Rim..." I couldn't find a breakdown of these numbers, but even at just 20% of the production going to Canada, that's 70 HZJ75 cab/chassis. I thought this was very interesting. All other diesel-powered vehicles sold in Venezuela are imported, including the hot-selling Toyota Dyna 4x4 and 4x2 series. Now if I could only get Toyota de Venezuela to send me a loaded version of the 75 series pickup with a 1HZ, I would definitely pick it up anywhere in Canada. Anyone out there have any contacts in the mines? Henry Cubillan PS: Toyota de Venezuela is notoriously flexible and *some* of these "for export only" diesel 75's have begun to trickle into the hard-core expedition crowd. A friend of mine just "happened to acquire" a '98 version and is now working on an aluminum trayback with a bunch of features.