Toyota Fortuner Face Uplift Legender Conversion Upgrade 2016 to 2021

From a manufacturing engineering perspective, a face lift generally (I would say in at least 19 out of 20 cases) does not involve the body-in-white. This means that the molds/dies, jigs and fixtures in the stamping/press shop and the body/welding shop stay where they are. Actually, most of the facelift changes are accomplished in the assembly shop.

A face-lifted car usually have a completely different front bumper (which is almost always plastic, not part of the body-in-white), but the fixtures on the bumper are all attached to the same spots on the body. The sides of the car may appear brand-new, but that is usually accomplished by redesigning the trims to give it refreshed lines and curves. If you look at the metal door shell, the geometry remains identical.

Toyota Fortuner Face Uplift Legender Conversion Upgrade 2016 to 2021

The above pictures show the pre-MOPF (Modellpflege, some say Middle-Of-Production Facelift) W212 E-Class on the left and MOPF on the right. The relocation of the chrome trim piece from on the doors on the pre-facelift to below the doors on the facelifted. It changes the look of the doors without having to modify the door shell a bit. The transition from the iconic E-Class quad-headlamp to the new single-unit lamp does not involve changing any metal part either: on the pre-facelift model, the portion between the lenses is actually an upward stretch of the bumper, which is plastic.

With the CLA-Class’s debut in 2013, Daimler has unveiled its fresh design language, and many of the elements were promptly reflected in the E-Class MOPF in 2014. This is also one instrumental objective of facelift: to rapidly conform all product line’s styling under one consistent tone without mandating extensive changes in manufacturing.

In contrast, the interior trim may see rather drastic change. The reasons are simple here: First, while most manufacturers make their own painted bodies in their own shops, interior parts are almost always outsourced; second, changing the molds or other equipment and tools for interior parts are much less costly than changing those in the stamping/press shop and body/welding shop; third, it is difficult to update the look of the dashboard etc. merely via minor modifications, like those done to the exterior.

It is worth noting that contrary to many have said, in a number of cases facelift does come with new power train. For a particular brand, a power train is usually shared by many if not all of its models (product lines), and these models generally have their life cycle spaced differently. Sometimes the new power train is part of the facelift, while sometimes it is just a timing coincidence.

For example, for Mercedes-Benz, the 221 S-Class, 212 E-Class and 204 C-Class are generally considered of the same era. 221 was from MY 2006 – 2013 with facelift in MY 2010; 212 was from MY 2010 – 2016 with facelift in MY 2014; 204 (W/S) was from MY 2008 – 2014 with facelift in MY 2011. The new M276 V6 engine that replaced M272 came with the 221 S-Class MOPF and 204 C-Class MOPF, but became available on the 212 E-Class before its facelift. In some markets, the 7G-Tronic also replaced the 5G-Tronic on some lower-end C-Class trim models with the C-Class MOPF.