Toyota, the preferred truck of ME rebels and our own Special Forces,makes a vehicle called "ISIS" !?

[KurtNYC]

Many have commented on how frequently we saw rebels and mercs in various Arab Spring uprisings using Toyota trucks. They really do seem to be the preferred vehicle for these groups.

It’s not just rebels in Afghanistan that love the Hilux. “The Toyota Hilux is everywhere,” says Andrew Exum, a former Army Ranger and now a fellow of the Center for a New American Security. “It’s the vehicular equivalent of the AK-47. It’s ubiquitous to insurgent warfare. And actually, recently, also counterinsurgent warfare. It kicks the hell out of the Humvee.” Anecdotally, a scan of pictures from the last four decades of guerrilla and insurgent warfare around the world—the first iteration of the Hilux appeared in the late ’60s—reveals the Toyota’s wide-ranging influence. Somali pirates bristling with guns hang out of them on the streets of Mogadishu. The New York Times has reported that the Hilux is the pirates’ “ride of choice.” A ragtag bunch of 20 or so Sudanese fighters raise their arms aloft in the back of a Hilux in 2004. Pakistani militants drive through a crowd, guns high, in 2000. It goes on. Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq—U.S. Special Forces even drive Toyota Tacomas (the chunkier, U.S. version of the Hilux) on some of their deployments. (gallery of Toyota trucks in conflict-torn regions at link.)

http://www.newsweek.com/why-rebel-groups-love-toyota-hilux-74195

Now I see that Toyota, through whatever horrible coincidence, makes a van called "Isis"

Isis uses a unique approach to the sliding doors in that the front passenger door and the rear passenger sliding door interlock when closed, instead of having a doorjamb that the doors attach to.

- Wikipedia

[snooper2]

1. Couldn't ever beat the 22R, the 22RE is even better, fucking bulletproof

I use to drag race a new 93' model with some 60's all around and a few bags of concrete in the bed. Fun little truck-

Not sure how many times I sidestepped that clutch

[KurtNYC]

3. Impressive

A British TV show tortured a HiLux

The show’s producers bought an 18-year-old Hilux diesel with 190,000 miles on the odometer for $1,500. They then crashed it into a tree, submerged it in the ocean for five hours, dropped it from about 10 feet, tried to crush it under an RV, drove it through a portable building, hit it with a wrecking ball, and set it on fire. Finally they placed it on top of a 240-foot tower block that was then destroyed in a controlled demolition. When they dug it out of the rubble, all it took to get it running again was hammers, wrenches, and WD-40. They didn’t even need spare parts.

http://www.newsweek.com/why-rebel-groups-love-toyota-hilux-74195

[underpants]

2. It's also a favorite of Special Forces

I was advised of when I was looking at used pickups. Someone I know who has some SF experience said, "Get a Toyota. It's the first thing we do once we get on the ground". Durable, easy to fix, parts are always available.

[unblock]

4. the name isis goes way back, at least to the egyptian goddess.

i rather suspect that the toyota use of the name rather predates the novel usage, which has already gone out of favor. preferred now is "islamic state" or "i.s."; second preferred is "islamic state of iraq in the levant" or "i.s.i.l."; "isis" is now number three and i suspect will soon be dropped altogether.

[KurtNYC]

7. yep, toyota has made it since 2004 and it was for Japan and Singapore only,

the intended reference was the Egyptian Goddess of Motherhood.

Meanwhile, as the Newsweek article states, Afghan fighters love their trucks so much they got tattoos.

[Scootaloo]

9. Actually it doesn't go back QUITE that far!

The egyptian goddess is quite a bit older than the name "Isis." The Egyptians called her "Aset" - "Isis" is a greek corruption of thename.

other names...

Osiris - Aser
Anubis - Anpu
Horus - Heru
Set - Sutekh
Thoth - Tehuti (in fact, "Thoth" is correctly pronounced "Tut' with aspiration on the consonants, rather than "Thoth&quot

[elehhhhna]

14. DOn't forget my personal fave, Taweret

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taweret


In Egyptian mythology, Taweret (also spelled Taurt, Tuat, Taouris, Tuart, Ta-weret, Tawaret, Twert, and Taueret, and in Greek, ???έ??? "Thouéris" and Toeris) is the protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility. The name "Taweret" (Tȝ-wrt) means, "she who is great" or simply, "great one," a common pacificatory address to dangerous deities.[1] The deity is typically depicted as a bipedal female hippopotamus with feline attributes, pendulous female human breasts, and the back of a Nile crocodile. She commonly bears the epithets "Lady of Heaven," "Mistress of the Horizon," "She Who Removes Water," "Mistress of Pure Water," and "Lady of the Birth House."[2]

Wiki is mistaken about the crocodile back - it's a long braid signifying fertility. I have a faience amulet of Taweret, roughly 2000 years old. SHE IS A BADASS.

[Sheepshank]

5. phone tap to pay, ISIS is changing it's name

[L0oniX]

6. Toyota. Taking advertisement to a whole other level.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. My neighbor swears his Cadillac Escalade

can't be beat when it comes to taking two trash bags to the dump every Saturday.

[mwrguy]

10. I wish they would sell the Hilux here in the US

[KurtNYC]

13. after seeing the british myth buster thing on it, so do I !

what is the closest model that they DO sell here? tacoma?

[Mika]

11. Pictured here

[Kaleva]

12. The front folding seats will strike terror into the hearts of the enemy. Allahu Akbar!!

Plenty of leg room for several suicide bombers.

[KurtNYC]

15. "Let other drivers REALLY know that you own the road, now."

"Why settle for just a new van when you can have a new Caliphate too! The new Toyota Isis..."

I seriously wonder what Toyota's internal discussion are like on whether to rename this thing. They better hope that ISIS --> ISIL --> IS doesn't KEEP changing their name because they could pick "Corolla" and that would kill some sales...

Holy crap -- what if ISIS would have an auction to next name themselves whatever the highest bidder pays, so global brands could try to sink their competitor by getting ISIS to rename itself -- put "Apple", "Samsung" "Google" "FaceBook" and "MicroSoft" in a bidding war with each other...

[NutmegYankee]

16. Why the facepalm?

The truck name predates the terror group name.

And Isis has a much older reference.