Toyota 1500/2500/3500

[dcsnyder]

I was talking to a good friend of mine who works at a Toyota/Chevy dealership this evening. (looking at a d-max LBZ)She tells me that Toyota will be rolling out a new line of Tundras; projected for 2007/2008.

 

They will be built in their new 2 million square foot facility in Texas. It will employ over 4000 American workers. (and no doubt a few Mexicans, HAHA!)

 

These will be true 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks. Capable of towing in excess of 10,000 lbs on the hitch with payloads to match or exceed that of current production Ford, Dodge or GM trucks. The literature I read mentioned a 5.7L V-8 gas engine. I can't imagine a diesel won't be made available.

 

I don't know if the party's over but it seems like things may begin winding down on the big 3's "corner market" on the HD trucks.

 

What do you think?

[snownyet]

When I had my Ford and was a disgruntled owner I would have been one of the first to jump on the toyota/nissan bandwagon for a HD truck. BUT as the owner of a new LBZ Ive got to admit, Toyota is going to have to build one hell of an impressive diesel package to draw me in, this Chebby is awesome.

[snoman]

When I had my Ford and was a disgruntled owner I would have been one of the first to jump on the toyota/nissan bandwagon for a HD truck. BUT as the owner of a new LBZ Ive got to admit, Toyota is going to have to build one hell of an impressive diesel package to draw me in, this Chebby is awesome.

 

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Toyota is a force to be reconed with and Detriot has long dreaded them moving into the full sized truck arena. (Detriot lost to them in the car market) Ford is so worried about them that if you go into Ford dealer around here, they have Toyota comparisions on their displays. Rest arussured, like it or not if they make a 1 ton truck, it will be second to none in quality and drivetrian refinement. I am not beating their drum but you cannot ignore their track record.

[cowboybinkz71]

I"m curious to see what they are going to come up with. Keep in mind that our idea of a heavy duty truck and their idea of heavy duty are drastically different. Hell Honda has teh audacity to label the Rdgeline as a truck, adn that's the ugliest POS and sorryest excuse for a truck I"ve ever seen. If they want to be competitors, they better have heavy duty axles, brakes, transmissions and transfer cases. And if they offer a diesel it better be a well built (by a reputable company) plant with low-end power, not a high revving diesel like most of the diesels are now.

[snoman]

I"m curious to see what they are going to come up with.  Keep in mind that our idea of a heavy duty truck and their idea of heavy duty are drastically different.  Hell Honda has teh audacity to label the Rdgeline as a truck, adn that's the ugliest POS and sorryest excuse for a truck I"ve ever seen.  If they want to be competitors, they better have heavy duty axles, brakes, transmissions and transfer cases.  And if they offer a diesel it better be a well built (by a reputable company) plant with low-end power, not a high revving diesel like most of the diesels are now.

 

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Good points. Truck can stand to get light some though and as long as the effective payload capacity is about the same, so much the better if the truck weighs 1000lbs less. Detriot pickups have gotten pretty fat and some good lean competion would do the consumer some good because in the long run they would get a better product when there is more competition.

[cowboybinkz71]

Good points. Truck can stand to get light some though and as long as the effective payload capacity is about the same, so much the better if the truck weighs 1000lbs less. Detriot pickups have gotten pretty fat and some good lean competion would do the consumer some good because in the long run they would get a better product when there is more competition.

 

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AMEN to that.

[Deere_Daze]

I dunno how worried Detroit should really be. A lot of people who buy fullsize trucks wouldnt be caught dead in an import and the quality/reliability of Ford and GM is getting a lot better. You could almost say they have caught up to the Japanese.

I think that any fullsize import truck (no matter how good it is) is going to have a really tough time taking away marketshare from Ford and GM.

The car market is different because people who buy cars are often more well-educated and open-minded, but truck people are different. They often have the attitude that they will only drive what their parents drove and have very much of a "buy American" outlook.

It will be interesting to see how the new Tundra turns out and what comes out in a 3/4 ton diesel offering, but I will be sticking with Ford or GM. I dont think I could ever feel proud about driving a Toyota.

[cowboybinkz71]

The early Dmax trucks were horrible and unreliable...70k miles out of a fuel system is totally unacceptable. The Ford 6.Oh No! Don't even get me started. Both of those motors were V8 designs based on a crappy design and onyl after much trail and error and pissed off customers did they get it fixed. Case in point, Ford's dumping the 6.0 after only 4 years in production. The only relaible plant is the Cummins mill cause it's a direct transplant with only a programming change. The onyl way an import will even have a chance to compete is by offering a diesel that Americans know and trust.

[snoman]

I dunno how worried Detroit should really be.  A lot of people who buy fullsize trucks wouldnt be caught dead in an import and the quality/reliability of Ford and GM is getting a lot better.  You could almost say they have caught up to the Japanese.

I think that any fullsize import truck (no matter how good it is) is going to have a really tough time taking away marketshare from Ford and GM.

The car market is different because people who buy cars are often more well-educated and open-minded, but truck people are different.  They often have the attitude that they will only drive what their parents drove and have very much of a "buy American" outlook.

It will be interesting to see how the new Tundra turns out and what comes out in a 3/4 ton diesel offering, but I will be sticking with Ford or GM.  I dont think I could ever feel proud about driving a Toyota.

 

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If this was really the case on a large scale, detriots total market share would not be steadily shrinking. Make no mistake. Detriot is really worried about this. They are going to be faced with reinventing themselves in the coming years or going out of bussiness because the free lunches are about over.

[Deere_Daze]

The onyl way an import will even have a chance to compete is by offering a diesel that Americans know and trust.

 

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Outside of the United States Toyota is reknown for their diesel engines. When most people see "Toyota", they think "reliability".

[Deere_Daze]

If this was really the case on a large scale, detriots total market share would not be steadily shrinking.  Make no mistake. Detriot is really worried about this. They are going to be faced with reinventing themselves in the coming years or going out of bussiness because the free lunches are about over.

 

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In the car market this may be true, but not in the truck market. There has never been a Japanese-branded fullsize truck that could compete with whats coming out of Detroit.

I think this is because most die-hard truck people wont touch an import. They are the blue-collar, flag-wavving, mom and dad and apple pie folks who were brought up that you buy American to support your local economy.

[cowboybinkz71]

Outside of the United States Toyota is reknown for their diesel engines.  When most people see "Toyota", they think "reliability".

 

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This may be true but I can't say I've ever seen one Toyota diesel in a heavy duty truck application in the US and that's what a lot US comsumers are interested in. Name regognition goes a long way. I think a lot of US consumers want a name they know they can rely on. Toyota may make a great oil burner but I doubt anyone who relies on their trucks dependability will want to be the guinea pig for this experiment. I've seen some Toyota forklifts that have diesels but that's a differnt class and application. When I see Toyota I think small truck and car reliability. I do not think of them as hauling horse trailers to rodeos or hauling flatbeds loaded with material to jobsites.

[snoman]

If this was really the case on a large scale, detriots total market share would not be steadily shrinking.  Make no mistake. Detriot is really worried about this. They are going to be faced with reinventing themselves in the coming years or going out of bussiness because the free lunches are about over.

 

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In the car market this may be true, but not in the truck market. There has never been a Japanese-branded fullsize truck that could compete with whats coming out of Detroit.

I think this is because most die-hard truck people wont touch an import. They are the blue-collar, flag-wavving, mom and dad and apple pie folks who were brought up that you buy American to support your local economy.

 

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And there never was Jap cars here once either and they dominate now. Do not be so nieve that think that they could not do the same in the truck world if they wanted too. If they build it is will be reliable and well built because unlike Detriot, Toyota tends to over build thing not under build them as I havve seen for old Toy's take some real beatings and survive. I just pulled a manual transaxle out of a wreck toyota car with 220K miles on it to use in another one and that tranny is as quiet and a slick as a new one in operation because it was well designed and built from day one like most of their vehicles.

[Deere_Daze]

I dunno about that, Snoman. Toyota has been trying to build a competitive fullsize since the T100 came out in '97 and they havent gotten it right yet.

I still have a REAL hard time seeing a Toyota or Nissan as the best-selling fullsize truck in America.

Honda, Nissan and Toyota have all given it their best shot and none of them has been able to take much if any marketshare away from Ford and GM.

[snoman]

I dunno about that, Snoman.  Toyota has been trying to build a competitive fullsize since the T100 came out in '97 and they havent gotten it right yet.

I still have a REAL hard time seeing a Toyota or Nissan as the best-selling fullsize truck in America.

Honda, Nissan and Toyota have all given it their best shot and none of them has been able to take much if any marketshare away from Ford and GM.

 

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I know but Toyota was kinda partnered with GM for a while in the past on cars and they may have been unofficailly limited in that reguard and besides, now is a near perfect time to reinvent the P/U with soaring fuel prices because rest assured Detriot only knows how to make them fatter, more car like and less fuel efficent. Some fresh meat on the table would help thing a lot and kick Detriot in the butt to get their act together