It won’t be this clean on pavement or dirt. Click to Enlarge
The Toyota 4Runner will reach the 40-year mark with the 2023 model year. To cash in, Toyota is offering a 4WD-only 2023 4Runner 40th Anniversary Special Edition.
Toyota will make 4,040 of these special editions available for the US market. Over the past four decades, 4Runner has tallied more than 4 million cumulative sales, so the latest marketing push is only incremental revenue.
The 2023 Toyota 4Runner 40th Anniversary Special Edition is based on the SR5 Premium grade and will be available in three colors: White, Midnight Black Metallic and Barcelona Red Metallic. It has bronze-colored 17-inch alloy wheels, a body-color-matching heritage grille and a bronze-colored 40th Anniversary exterior tailgate badge. In short, all the “usual” special edition tweaks.
The most garish is the heritage graphics package. In a passing to those early 4Runner racers, the 4Runner 40th Anniversary Edition has “retro-inspired” yellow/orange/red body graphics. The anniversary theme continues inside, with exclusive badging on the center console and a bronze-colored cross-stitch shift knob, bronze-colored seat stitching, 40th Anniversary floormats and a 40th Anniversary logo on the black SofTex-trimmed seats.
Toyota notes: When the first 4Runner arrived, “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” was the top-grossing movie in America, and “Every Breath You Take” by the Police had ended the year at #1 on the Billboard 100. (That was then “Jedi” the third Star Wars movie, not “Episode Six.”)
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Toyota 4Runner 40th Anniversary Special Edition Debuts
It won’t be this clean on pavement or dirt. Click to Enlarge
The Toyota 4Runner will reach the 40-year mark with the 2023 model year. To cash in, Toyota is offering a 4WD-only 2023 4Runner 40th Anniversary Special Edition.
Toyota will make 4,040 of these special editions available for the US market. Over the past four decades, 4Runner has tallied more than 4 million cumulative sales, so the latest marketing push is only incremental revenue.
The 2023 Toyota 4Runner 40th Anniversary Special Edition is based on the SR5 Premium grade and will be available in three colors: White, Midnight Black Metallic and Barcelona Red Metallic. It has bronze-colored 17-inch alloy wheels, a body-color-matching heritage grille and a bronze-colored 40th Anniversary exterior tailgate badge. In short, all the “usual” special edition tweaks.
The most garish is the heritage graphics package. In a passing to those early 4Runner racers, the 4Runner 40th Anniversary Edition has “retro-inspired” yellow/orange/red body graphics. The anniversary theme continues inside, with exclusive badging on the center console and a bronze-colored cross-stitch shift knob, bronze-colored seat stitching, 40th Anniversary floormats and a 40th Anniversary logo on the black SofTex-trimmed seats.
Toyota notes: When the first 4Runner arrived, “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” was the top-grossing movie in America, and “Every Breath You Take” by the Police had ended the year at #1 on the Billboard 100. (That was then “Jedi” the third Star Wars movie, not “Episode Six.”)
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.