Toyota aids US in probe into why its pickups and SUVs are the Islamic State's vehicles of choice
Both older and newer models of Toyota pickups and SUVs appear regularly in propagadic videos
Toyota Motor said on Wednesday it is cooperating with the US government’s investigation into how the Islamic State is obtaining the Japanese automaker’s trucks and sports utility vehicles.
“We are supporting the US Treasury Department’s broader inquiry into international supply chains and the flow of capital and goods in the Middle East,” Toyota spokesperson Amanda Rice said.
Toyota’s Hilux pickups and Land Cruiser SUVs are often seen in the terrorist group’s propaganda videos, which prompted US counterterrorism officials to open a probe about how the vehicles were obtained, US news broadcaster ABC News reported on Wednesday.
The videos show the terrorists driving a combination of older and newer models and the US believes the Islamic State has recently obtained “hundreds of brand new” Toyota vehicles, ABC News said.
The company’s sales operations in Syria ceased in 2012 and regional Toyota distributors do not know how the Islamic State acquired the vehicles, according to the network.
Vehicles from other automakers have been featured in the videos, such as those from Hyundai Motor and Isuzu Motors, the report said, but the Toyota models have become “fixtures” for the Islamic State.
When the Islamic State paraded through the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, more than two-thirds of the vehicles in the convoy appeared to be from Toyota, the broadcaster reported.
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Mark Wallace who currently heads an organisation that studies the financial networks of terrorists told ABC News that the vehicles “have effectively become almost part of the ISIS brand”.
Wallace told the network that the Toyota vehicles are seen in almost every Islamic State propaganda video and his group urged the company earlier this year to do more in tracking how terrorists acquire their vehicles.
Although Toyota has a “strict policy to not sell vehicles to potential purchasers who may use or modify them for paramilitary or terrorist activities”, Rice said tracking vehicles that have been stolen or re-sold by third parties is impossible.
“We are committed to complying fully with the laws and regulations of each country or region where we operate, and require our dealers and distributors to do the same,” Rice said.
