Toyota Boosting Capacity To Crank Out More Tacomas

Neither are built in Japan. In fact, no Toyota consumer trucks are built in Japan anymore. Baja was a secondary plant for the Tacoma, so the additional capacity will be achieved via shipping CKD kits from, I presume, the Texas plant suppliers and wherever the drive train bits are made. The Tundra is not built from CKD. North America is its only market, and it is assembled in San Antonio the same way as any other car or truck.

@bosozoku It just seems bizarre to tie up the San Antonio plant to almost complete the truck, just to finish it inkTijuana. Remember the 4Runner is made in Japan and would be more apt to share an assembly line than the completely different Tundra. It's more likely the Tacomas built in San Antonio are from CKDs too.

@DenverMike - the 4Runner can be imported from Japan because it is classified as a car not a truck. The Japanese won the dispute having minivans and SUV's reclassified as cars. Do you want me to re-post that link? you know the one....... the law review article that mentions what the chicken tax did to the truck market ;)

@Lou_BC The ongoing pride that you take in your ignorance of inflation is quite astounding. You're not even sharp enough to know that you should be embarrassed.

@Lou_BC Pch101 - I was talking about minivan and SUV reclassification dispute which was what the law article was about. The bit that shoots down your "tariffs has no effect" fantasy was part of that article. Obviously you never read it since you missed my point completely.

@Lou_BC I'm actually embarrassed for you. You're only proving my point for me.

@pch101 - how so?

@Lou_BC Despite numerous explanations, you're still clueless. Even posting an elementary YouTube video to explain a concept that high school kids should be able to understand soared far above your head. You still haven't figured out that the real price of small trucks fell after the loss of the cab-chassis exemption. This may contradict your theories, but it is simply a fact. The manufacturers ate the difference; they were unable to pass on the rising costs due to inflation, let alone the cost of the tariff. Out in the real world, companies aren't always able to pass on their costs. The market was too competitive and the price point of the market was too low to allow them to get the customer to pay for it. And it didn't benefit the larger trucks, either; they didn't get a lift as a result (unless you think that the Olds 88 or Pontiac Firebird are trucks.)

@Lou_BC - I know why the 4Runner is exempt. Thank you though. But it was the 2-Door SUVs that were in question. Too similar to pickups with the rear bench removed. Same with cargo minivans, shipped without rear seats/side windows. That "article" mentions Americans paid more for pickups. OK. But we paid more for all pickups. Foreign, domestic, small, fullsize. And we paid more for cars too. And we paid more for motorcycles. And more for motorhomes. More for homes. More for groceries. More for fuel. More for clothes... That whole article was a big waste of your own time. And what grade did they get on that paper? A D? D-? My only point was the Tacoma is a Japanese built and imported CKD "kit". Not that there's anything wrong with that.

@DiM, If the shoe fits........... A cut and paste from an article you might find interesting, sort of intriguing; "The chatrooms and social media feeds are their hunting grounds. Lies, exaggerations and provocative statements are their weapons of choice." http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/psychological-study-says-internet-trolls-show-all-the-signs-of-sadism/story-fnjwnhzf-1227065458355

I think it is self-evident that ALL manufacturers are going the "front air dam" route and styling the front ends accordingly, just like they went from defined-separate bumpers to the blended-style bumpers years ago. All the OEMs want to squeeze that extra franction of a mpg out of their vehicles. The days of the "brick" styling are gone for good. Even Peterbilt and Kenworth, Volvo and Freightliner have jumped on the styling and flaring bandwagon for their Cabs. And not all bad either.

I agree, across the board this air-damn-nonsense is just getting goofy. I had a rental Acadia a few months ago, an AWD version, and the bottom of the front end was LOWER than my Verano. It was harder to park without fear of damage. AWD is great, but the thing will be a plow. Utter crap. For the record, I consider the "first gen/pre facelift" Acadia to be a chiseled and extremely handsome vehicle. The facelifted version is a hideous amorphous blob.

So take it off. It's not illegal, nor is it difficult. You'll just lose .5 MPG, and from what you've all said, it's not like you'll miss it.

@Drzhivago138 Depends on the vehicle. Things like the Acadia, or the Freaking Malibu rental I had had, one piece bumper covers that precluded removal. Can't speak for half tons.

@Drzhivago138 Look at the Silverado, the center of the bumper itself already extends down almost as far as the air dam does. You can't just unbolt it, reasonable clearance means a levelling kit. Typical GM design by committee with no clue what the product is for. On the F-150 the bumper proper is high and clear all the way across with the dam tucked down out of sight underneath. The '15 has a much larger and more visible dam but the bumper itself still has clearance. Ford understands what a truck is for. Ram is about halfway between the two, and they have two different sizes of air dam, a short one on the Outdoorsman (which you'd probably remove anyway if you ever took it Outdoors but at least it doesn't look as goofy) and an inch deeper variant on the other trims. Nissan and Toyota don't have dams at all, and 17 or 18 highway on the sticker to match.