Toyota Previews Builds for SEMA 2023

The announcements from auto manufacturers about what they’ve in the pipeline for this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas continue apace, with Toyota promising a quartet of builds – plus a few packages that consumers will be able to actually buy.

Shown above is a rendering of the Tacoma X-Runner Concept. Those of you with decent memories will recall the brand had a variant of this sort for a few years in the past, one which featured a lowered suspension, manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive, and a limited-slip diff. This time around, reports tell us there will be a 3.4-liter twin-turbo under the hood, taken from a Tundra and making the better part of 400 horses, along with what certainly looks like a reprise of the low-n-wide theme but applied to a next-gen Tacoma. The concept is a collab between Toyota’s Calty Design Center and its Tech Center in Michigan, suggesting this won’t be a half-baked concept with engine parts made out of cardboard.

Also on tap are an FJ Bruiser, a ‘Blue Beetle’ Tacoma, and a Retro Cruiser. We’ll have to wait until the press conference on October 31 to learn about the appearance of those machines, though we have a good image in our mind’s eye about that FJ. Whether any portion of these concepts reaches even a sniff of actual production is up for some debate. 

What will make it into catalogs, however, is a TRD Performance package for the Tundra, bringing a measure of that arm’s design to a truck that already has a choice of faces depending on trim. The roster currently includes a TRD Sport option which adds styling addenda inside and out; scuttlebutt on the sewers that are fan forums are suggesting this package will include a remap of the ECU for more power, requiring the use of premium fuel.

Look for the Toyota showcase inside the Las Vegas Convention Center to also include displays of a GR Cup Series GR86 racer, 45th-anniversary GR Supra, Trueno Special Edition GR86, plus various and sundry show builds laden with official Associated Accessory Products (AAP) in an effort to showcase offerings at that part of the company.

[Image: Toyota]

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