Mazda T-series and Titan: from three-wheelers to trucks

The Mazda Titan is the company’s medium commercial truck, built since 1971, while the T-series name covers its predecessors: the T600 three-wheeler of 1959, the T1100 and T1500, and the T2000 to T4000 export badges. From the fourth generation the Titan has been a rebadged Isuzu Elf.

Mazda T-series (Titan) at a glance

The T600 to T4000 records are merged here as one commercial truck line.

History of the Mazda T-series (Titan)

Mazda’s T-series began with three-wheeled trucks. The T600 appeared in June 1959 as a longer-bed, larger-engined version of the K360, was facelifted in 1962 and 1964, with a steel roof arriving as on the K360, and was built until September 1970. The T1100 and T1500 line started in 1957 with a redesigned closed cabin, a round steering wheel, column shift and a hydraulic clutch, keeping an air-cooled two-cylinder engine until 1959, when a water-cooled inline four replaced it and the model became the T1100; in 1962, after the kei regulations were revised, the body and engine grew and it became the T1500. The T600, K360 and B360 were exported to Burma in the 1960s and later built locally until the mid-1990s, and Kia built the T600 in Korea as the Kia Master T600.

Mazda’s first four-wheeled medium truck was the E2000 of January 1964, with a standard bed, a three-way dropside bed and a long-wheelbase dropside, powered by an 81 PS 2.0-litre petrol engine also used in the earlier D2000. In 1970 a version called the E2500 was added with a Perkins-developed 2.5-litre diesel of 77 PS. The first Titan was presented in 1971 as a successor to the two-ton E2000, with box-section chassis rails unusual for the class; the tilt-cab Titan kept the 2.5-litre XA diesel unchanged, and there was also a 2.7-litre XB diesel in the Titan T2700 with 81 PS and a 2.0-litre petrol four. In 1977 a facelift brought a new grille, bumpers with integrated fog lights, larger turn signals and the new MAZDA logo, while the 2.7 diesel gave way to a 3-litre unit with 86 PS. This generation also formed the basis of the Australian Ford Trader and was built under licence in Korea by Kia as the Kia Titan, and its chassis was shared with the Parkway minibus.

The second generation was announced in October 1980 with a 4,052 cc six-cylinder ZB diesel and 2.0, 2.5 and 3-litre four-cylinder models, plus a dual-range ten-speed transmission marketed as Two Way Shift; the second-generation Parkway bus followed in January 1982. Minor changes came in May 1984 and 1987, the latter replacing four round headlights with square units and adding a DIN audio space. In export markets the Titan appeared as the Mazda T2000, T2500, T3000 or T4100, and it was licence-built in India under Swaraj Mazda from 1985, a company renamed SML Isuzu in 2010. The third generation arrived in 1989, and from the fourth generation the Titan became a rebadged Isuzu Elf.

Design and features

• Three-wheeler origins: the T-series started with the T600 of 1959.
• E2000 and E2500: the first four-wheeled medium trucks before the Titan.
• Two Way Shift: a dual-range ten-speed transmission on the second generation.
• Isuzu Elf: later Titans are rebadged Isuzu trucks.

Mazda T-series (Titan) versions

• T600 (1959–1970): three-wheeled light truck based on the K360.
• T1100 and T1500: three-wheelers with a water-cooled four.
• Titan (1971–1980): first generation, EXB, 2.5 and 2.7 diesels.
• Titan (1980–1989): second generation, 4,052 cc six-cylinder diesel.
• T2000–T4100: export names for the Titan.

The Titan shares its platform with the Mazda Parkway bus, and the smaller Mazda B series covers the pickups. More Mazdas are in the Mazda collection.

Sources

• Mazda Titan, English Wikipedia: E2000, first and second generations, export names
• マツダ・T600, Japanese Wikipedia: T600 dates and versions
• マツダ・T1500, Japanese Wikipedia: T1100 and T1500 history
• Mazda T1500, German Wikipedia: European data