An investigation has been launched into how so many Toyotas ended up in the hands of ISIS. We’ve seen them during the countless wars in Africa, and now we’re seeing them again in the Middle Eastern conflicts.
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The first they turned to was, of course, the carmaker itself.
The US Treasury is now pressing Toyota about why so many of its vehicles are being driven around by the terrorist group, as evidenced in their propaganda videos.
The Daily Telegraph reported in August that more than 800 Toyota Hilux pickup trucks were reported missing in Sydney, Australia, between 2014 and 2015.
An Iraqi military spokesman told ABC News he believes that middlemen from outside Iraq have been smuggling the trucks into the country. “Regrettably, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have effectively become nearly part of the ISIS brand”, he said.
Ed Lewis, Toyota’s Washington-based director of public policy and communications, told ABC News that is impossible for the company to track vehicles that have been stolen, or have been bought and re-sold by middlemen.
Toyota distributors in the region contacted by ABC News said they did not know how the trucks reached ISIS.
Any efforts to trace how the Toyota vehicles end up in the hands of ISIS have proven hard to Iraq and U.S. officials. And if we were the CEOs of Mitsubishi or Isuzu, we’d be expecting a call from an undisclosed number shortly.
“This is a question we’ve been asking our neighbors,” the ambassador said.
While Toyota likely never “intentionally profited” from the terrorists, they are now aware of the problem and should do more to halt ISIS’ acquisitions, Wallace said.
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As this goes on, Toyota’s sales of Hiluxes and similar models appear to be going through the roof.
The Treasury Department would not comment about which companies it has sought information from but said there is an ongoing efforts to understand ISIS financing.
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The department said in a statement: “In line with our usual approach to understanding ISIL’s financial and economic activities, we are working closely with foreign counterparts and stakeholders worldwide”.
