Chicago Auto Show: 2014 Toyota Tundra

Alex L. Dykes
by Alex L. Dykes

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.

Alex L. Dykes
Alex L. Dykes

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  • RobertRyan RobertRyan on Feb 11, 2013

    @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.

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    • Th009 Th009 on Feb 11, 2013

      @DenverMike You certainly can (or at least have been able to) buy full-size pickup trucks in Western Europe. The sales have been minuscule, though, except where local tax rules have distorted the market in their favour. Being able to sell vehicle X in country Y doesn't mean that consumers in that country will want to buy it.

  • RobertRyan RobertRyan on Feb 11, 2013

    @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

  • Big Al from Oz Big Al from Oz on Feb 11, 2013

    @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 DenverMike on Feb 11, 2013

      No, I said the quality and content of mini-trucks were comparable to full-size when they started falling out of favour/fashion. As for the F-250 you experienced, it doesn't sound like it was a newer, premium model and more like a work truck that's been beat on. It does make a difference and work truck don't receive the same level QC as premium models for obvious reasons. Tell me it's different at Toyota factories? As far as my work trucks go, no one is giving Ford any competition I'm not looking for a Lexus build. That's actually the absolute least of my concerns when buying a truck, even one personal use so why should Ford make it a priority? 3/4 tons just have to beat other brands, but they're pretty good as of late and no one is cross shopping them with Lexus.

  • Big Al from Oz Big Al from Oz on Feb 12, 2013

    @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.

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    • DenverMike DenverMike on Feb 12, 2013

      @Robert Ryan "(Quality) is part of the overall problem of why US vehicles do not sell outside NA.." The giant chip on your shoulder is against US vehicles in general and while some are better than others, Ford cars and trucks are among the highest quality in the world. Meanwhile, Toyota and Honda are overrated. Still, we're talking the narrowest of margins, between the top 20 OEMs But then if utmost quality was every buyers #1 main concern, INCLUDING those super sophisticated Australians, Toyota and Honda would be much bigger and VW, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, and BMW would be much, much smaller. The F-series imported into Australia were not US made, but built in South America. Still, there was no reason to continue importing them after Australia banned diesel F-series imports, which marked the end. If their quality and reliability was so bad that Ford of Australia couldn't break even, that just proves they were different animals than the F-series that roam NA. Get real. If you're looking for Lexus fit and finish on work trucks, especially after 10,000 miles of work, you're crazy, but I hear your point. But let's take a closer look at Toyota work trucks both new and after equal use and abuse.

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