Toyota Tsusho Samoa Limited celebrated a milestone on Friday evening with the launch of the latest model updates and improvements to its eighth-generation Toyota Hilux.

The car was previously released in 2019.

Held at the Asco Motors Showroom, Friday's event was well attended by customers, staff, and prominent members of the business community. 

Lipa Vaoga, the Sales and Marketing Manager for Toyota Tsusho Samoa Limited, said the launch was held mainly to announce the new updates to the vehicle and to inform its customers and Samoans about improvements to the product they had first launched two years ago. 

"This one is not a new model, it is a facelift, an improvement from the previous model which was launched in 2019," Mr. Vaoga told the Samoa Observer. 

"So this a re-launching of a product to advise the customers what the changes are and why it's good for the people of Samoa."

When asked to explain what the updates are, Mr. Vaoga said: "There are two different models, one is a 2.4 litre diesel turbo and is available only in manual transmission and the other one with a bigger engine with 2.8 litres and is available in automatic transmission. 

"Both models are equipped with diesel turbo engines, the very latest technologies designs, and there's more power. 

"The engines are stronger, in terms of engine performance that is one advantage. 

"The second thing is, there have been some improvements in terms of the engine from the previous models, it's the same model with a lot of improvements and that is what the facelift is about. 

"The most important change is the fuel efficiency, the engine size has been reduced, but the torque has been increased."

Moreover, Mr. Vaoga said that five cars with the latest updates and improvements have already been sold

Mr. Vaoga said he was not at liberty to discuss the exact price of the updated model, but did say the 2.8 automatic model is sold for over $130,000.