Toyota 4Runner

The Toyota 4Runner is an SUV manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota and marketed globally since 1984, across six generations. In Japan, it was marketed as the Toyota Hilux Surf (Japanese: トヨタ・ハイラックスサーフ, Hepburn: Toyota Hairakkususāfu) and was withdrawn from the market in 2009. The original 4Runner was a compact SUV and little more than a Toyota Hilux pickup truck with a fiberglass shell over the bed, but the model has since undergone significant independent development into a cross between a compact and a mid-size SUV. All 4Runners have been built in Japan at Toyota's plant in Tahara, Aichi, or at the Hino Motors (a Toyota subsidiary) plant in Hamura. The name "4Runner" was created by copywriter Robert Nathan for the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising company as a play on the term "forerunner". The agency held contests to invent new names for Toyota's upcoming vehicles. According to Toyota, the "4" described the vehicle's 4-wheel drive system while "Runner" was a reference to its all-terrain capabilities and how it could "run" off-road. As of 2021, the 4Runner is sold primarily in North America, Central America and some South American countries. Many markets that do not offer the 4Runner, such as Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, receive the Land Cruiser Prado instead. For some markets, the 4Runner was branded the Hilux Surf, which was replaced by the Fortuner, a similar but lower-cost alternative based on the Hilux platform. The 4Runner placed number five in a 2019 study by iSeeCars.com ranking the longest-lasting vehicles in the US. According to the study, 3.94% of 4Runners had a mileage of over 200,000 miles (320,000 km).