Toyota Motor Corporation’s Hideo Suzuki, left, and Makoto Arimoto pose with Abdul Latif Jameel Company’s senior management executives at the launch of 2010 Toyota Prado in Jeddah on Tuesday night. (AN photo)

JEDDAH: The all-new fourth generation Toyota Prado made its debut at a ceremony here on Tuesday night. “This 2010 mid-size four-wheel-drive vehicle maintains outstanding drivability and reliability with improved on-road and off-road performance,” Essam Nauwar, senior GM of Toyota Marketing at Abdul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd., told a press conference at the Park Hyatt.

“Since the launch of the first model of Toyota Prado in 1996, this car instantly proved its capabilities as the most dependable four-wheel drive car in the world,” he added. “The Prado, which has its presence in more than 170 countries and regions around the world, also maintains the outstanding basic functionality of the earlier generations, even under the harshest driving conditions, while improving the on-road and off-road performance that it is known for,” he added.

Specific improvements include a roomier cabin through increased space between the front and second-row seats. “Enhancements to the time-tested full frame structure and higher body rigidity make the ride even more comfortable. In addition, the adoption of a Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS) allows for driving stability at city and highway speeds and a ‘Crawl Control’ feature enhances rough-road compatibility,” Makoto Arimoto, chief engineer, product planning, Toyota Commercial Vehicle Development Center, said. Arimoto and Hideo Suzuki, GM, sales and marketing department of Toyota for Middle East Southwest Asia sales and marketing division, flew in from Tokyo specially for the event.

The new Prado’s other off-road driver-support features include a multiterrain select to control engine output and break application in line with the off-road environment and the “world’s first multiterrain monitor, which displays footage of road conditions around the vehicle taken by onboard cameras.

The new Prado comes in a variety of 10 body colors. Its instrument panel features a strong horizontal form to create a simple and clean-cut expression of refined strength, featuring a vertically arranged center instrument cluster with function-prioritized switch placement.