Toyota has called its mini trucks the Hilux going back to the 1970s. For some reason in the early to mid 1980s, they just called it a pick up for the North American market. I'm sure it had something to do with marketing somehow.

However everywhere else in the world, through today, it's still called a Hilux. I wouldn't be surprised if in some official documentation, the pre-95 North American trucks are still called Hiluxs, since things like titles, registrations, and NHTSA recalls sometimes probably wouldn't accept just "pick-up" as a vehicle name, but the name isn't on any badging like overseas trucks.

In 1995, when Toyota completely butchered, I mean....redesigned the pick-up, they decided to go back to giving it an official name in North America to distinquish the North American pavement pounder from the overseas workhorse.

The Hilux kept the solid front axle as a standard feature through 1997, although some high end overseas models did get IFS just like all the North American models did in 1986, and all 4Runners/Surfs got the IFS from 1986 onward.

When Toyota finally standardized the IFS with all Hiluxes in 1997, they went with the older style torsion bar, ball steering IFS that North American models quit using in 1995. In an ironic twist, since 2005, both the Hilux and Tacoma share the same all new (for the pickups) front suspension, but the frames are quite different as are the bodies and drivetrains.