Toyota Vies for One of Detroit's Last Strongholds - Pickup Trucks

[Marc]

From the New York Times:

Toyota Vies for One of Detroit's Last Strongholds

By MICHELINE MAYNARD
Published: February 9, 2006

CHICAGO, Feb. 9 — Toyota has been selling pickup trucks in the United States since 1964. But none have been more important than the one it unveiled here today — either to Toyota or to Detroit.

Toyota introduced the new version of its Tundra pickup at the Chicago Auto Show, marking the first time it has offered a truck as big and as powerful as vehicles from General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.

This Tundra, a successor to a smaller model in Toyota's lineup for the past decade, does not go on sale until a year from now. But its introduction spells the beginning of the end of Detroit's unquestioned dominance of the pickup truck market.

"It's the last bastion of American vehicles," said Ron Pinelli, the president of Autodata, an industry statistics firm in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.

The success of this truck is critical if Toyota, which held 13.2 percent of the United States market last year for fourth place, is to finally pass Chrysler for the No. 3 spot — and ultimately unseat G.M. as the world's biggest carmaker.

James Press, the chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., said the new Tundra is as vital to Toyota as Camry, which has been the best-selling family car in the United States for the past five years; Lexus, the country's top-selling luxury division, and Scion, the three-year-old brand that has been a hit with young, hip consumers.

"It's one of the most important introductions we've ever had," Mr. Press said in an interview here.

But Detroit will not give any ground without a fight.

The pickup truck market boasts some of the most fiercely loyal buyers in the industry, who tend to pick a brand and stick with it for their lifetimes, Mr. Pinelli said. And the traditional American companies are determined to hang onto those customers.

On the floor of the Chicago Auto Show this week, Ford lined up seven of its F-series pickup trucks — in red, white and blue — with their formidable front ends aimed directly at Toyota's display.

It was the automotive equivalent of "talk to the hand" — or hood, in this case.

General Motors, meanwhile, is launching a barrage of pickups later this year that will be a crucial element in stemming the company's billion-dollar losses and launching its turnaround effort.

Mr. Pinelli, however, believes Toyota will easily achieve its goal of selling 200,000 Tundras a year — and probably more. Given how well Camry, Lexus and Scion have performed, "Toyota has the recipe for success," Mr. Pinelli said.

But this dish has taken a long time to prepare, even for a company known for being deliberate. Although it has always sold small trucks here and has offered them in Japan since World War II, it took until the early 1990's for Toyota to get serious about a big pickup.

One key reason was that Congress, in a burst of 1980's protectionism, imposed tariffs on imported trucks, making it costly to compete with Detroit's cheaper models. Another was that Americans were migrating away from the cars on which Toyota cut its teeth, and the company was determined to follow its customers.

Toyota's fledgling big-truck effort was the Japanese-built T-100, which now seems almost petite next to its latest truck and severely lagged Detroit pickups in engine power and hauling ability.

By 1996, Toyota had built a plant in Princeton, Ind., to produce the original Tundra. Though bigger than the T-100, and with more performance, purists still sniffed at it. "The original ones were either too small, underpowered, or weren't seen as real pickup trucks," Mr. Pinelli said.

With this truck, Toyota has attempted to do its homework. Beginning in 2002, Toyota began interviewing every type of truck owner, from ranchers in Montana to construction crews in Atlanta and business owners in Houston, to be sure it understood their needs.

One basic: performance. While some people buy pickups as car substitutes, the most serious customers use them for work. So the Tundra is capable of towing more than 10,000 pounds, and will come equipped with a new 5.7-liter V-8 engine and six-speed automatic transmission.

To its surprise, Toyota engineers learned that they do not just use their pickups to lug things around: they are the equivalent of mobile offices.

So this Tundra is compatible with Bluetooth technology, a feature found on its Lexus models, and has multiple connection ports for laptops, cellphones and other devices.

[Randy]

The only way they'll get my Tacoma away from me is to pry it from my cold dead fingers.

Toyota truck quality sold me years ago.

[Sidney Vianna]

Originally Posted by Randy

is to pry it from my cold dead fingers.

With all the "fans" you have here at the Cove, you should be careful not to give them any ideas...

[Randy]

Originally Posted by Sidney Vianna

With all the "fans" you have here at the Cove, you should be careful not to give them any ideas...

Been tried more than once and I haven't assumed room temperature yet