After competitive bidding Toyota and Hino Motors were selected to develop and build the Type 73 medium truck.

The truck is not armored and thus not made for combat, but with the aim of mainly carrying personnel and transporting goods with a load capacity of 2,000 kg.

The cab, which has space for the driver and one or two crew is normally fitted with a soft top and windshield which can be folded down in order to lower the silhouette .

The first generation, produced from around 1973 to the mid-1990s, is equipped with a five-speed manual transmission, lacks power steering and bears serial numbers 0001–39XX.

The following additional changes were made compared to the first generation: switch to the chassis of the Toyota high mobility vehicle.