Chicago Auto Show: 2014 Toyota Tundra
Toyota chose Chicago to introduce the new 2014 Tundra. Following the lead of the big three, the Tunda is bigger and has a more premium interior. Unlike the big boys, Toyota still won’t have a 3/4 or 1 ton models, but they are touting the Tundra as having the highest North American parts content of any other 1/2 ton truck. Them’s fighting words.
Of course 1/2 ton doesn’t really mean half a ton of bed capacity any more. The Tundra with the 5.7L V8 will have a 2,000lb bed capacity and a SAE certified 10,000lb towing capacity. Helping tow lovers out is a new integrated towing controller and a redesigned rear bumper that’s only 2/3 chrome so when you smack your hitch into your bumper (you know who you are) it will be less obvious and perhaps easier to repair.
There will be a TRD model, a Limitied model and since everyone else is going Platinum, so will the Tundra. Aping the King Ranch themed F-150, Toyota is getting their on ranch edition with saddle brown leather, a higher price tag and some dubious Texas ranch tie-ins. Every model gets a redesigned interior, Toyota’s latest infotainment systems and more soft touch dash bits. Toyota hasn’t announced pricing yet, so that just means you’ll have to visit TTAC daily for that release.
More by Alex L. Dykes
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@PcH101 "Denver gets this one right. The American truck market is unique; trucks built elsewhere on this planet don’t suit our tastes, while the large trucks that are popular here sell poorly outside of North America. The vehicle cultures are very different. Correct. They would not sell anywhere else as @Highdesertcat noticed in his travels overseas.
@Highdesertcat "RobertRyan, the band I played in during my off-duty time while stationed in Germany, bought a used Bedford Van to haul our band equipment to the various gigs we played at military bases in Germany, Holland and Belgium." Bedford Trucks have disappeared here but I saw recently a 1985 Seddon-Atkinson still hauling Rocks from a quarry. Those things were built like tanks.FIAT/ IVECO acquired the company and they stopped making them in 2004. http://static.commercialmotor.com/big-lorry-blog/Atki2.jpg
@DenverMike Again, wow. The chicken tax stopped the importation of highly competitive trucks, period. To maintain the protection of the Big 3, government, unions used CAFE/EPA and design regulations to further impede the manufacturing of diesel mid sizers. Quality? What quality does the US trucks have in comparison to the Asian trucks. You wouldn't have a clue. If you think US vehicles are high quality then you have never left the US. Even the BMWs made in the US are of a lower build quality than our GMHs and Fords. We actually get foreign cars made in foreign countries. Last year in Vegas for work I drove a F-250 Super Duty dual cab. Great and powerful. Useful, very under utilised potential. The build quality was atrocious. My BT50GT is the high end pickup for Mazda. It's quality is compared to a MX-9, that is made in Japan. Your pickups are a couple of decades from achieving that type of quality. As for you misguided beliefs. If our diesel mid sizers came to the States I would imagine at least a 50% drop in full size sales within a few years. Don't compare our mid sizers to your mid sizers, they are two completely different vehicles in both quality and performance. Why would the Big 3 want a mid sizer to outperform a half ton pickup?
@DenverMike It was a mid spec truck with less than 10 000 on the clock from a hire company. No dents or damage. My mother last year bought a Focus, she lives in the US. The interior is terrible. The plastics look like something from the 80s. The secondary areas in the trunk are showing surface rust. My brother bought a US manufactured Kia Soul. The difference between it and the Ford is significant. The Kia still isn't produced to the same quality as our Kia's from Korea. A protected market is the only way this can occur. Your reasoning for build quality is an excuse. It was only last week you stated that US pickups if imported into Australia would take the market with US quality. Now you say poorer quality is acceptable. Why shouldn't work trucks recieve the same quality as a car? Maybe be your attitude, but you don't know any different. Why not do the best you can. Not the least to sell. That is why the US vehicle market needs to deregulate or regulate like the rest of the OECD. The US then would be designing vehicles that the globe would want and then export. The US would challenge the other global markets with technology. Deregulation can only benefit. The Dodge Rampage would make an awesome global mid sizer if it sat on a full chassis that suited the global market. That would sell globally, especially with a VM 3 litre V6 diesel. But the build quality will have to improve over Chrysler/Ram/Jeep current standards.