G’day Norm
I’m thinking it’s probably a carry-over from the original?
I know in the 50’s a lot of Japanese engineering was a direct copy of something from either the US or Europe. There were parts of Toyotas that would directly bolt into Chevrolets and vice versa. Some bits of Toyota Crown you could use Chevy Nova bits for and it wasn’t a close match, it was exact.
To save on the costs of updates to tooling and processing many things don’t get changed, if it works they leave it be. There are huge economies of scale in production so the manufacturer might make vast quantities of things and continue with a bit of plant for as long as they can get away with it.
I know with one of my original 1970’s Toyotas, that’s now long gone, some of the same minor parts fit to a 2015 model. The cap off the power steering reservoir and the mounting clips for some engine ancillaries are identical.
Might be the same story here.
Cheers
Ironbark
