Toyota sellers this week will get their first concrete particulars concerning the model’s plans for its 2022 Tundra full-size pickup — the truck’s first redesign in 14 years — which is about to reach in dealerships by the top of the 12 months.

However past a teaser video proven to sellers in November that exposed its LED lighting and what’s been gleaned from check mules in numerous areas, only a few particulars concerning the Tundra have leaked out. And executives at Toyota Motor North America have been characteristically tight-lipped.

Toyota’s make assembly on the first digital NADA Present this week may also cowl the model’s newly improved SmartPath digital retailing tool. However the model’s retailers are notably piqued by the prospect of getting a aggressive full-size pickup for the primary time in years and the prospect of stealing market share within the section from the Detroit 3.

“The brand new Tundra is probably the most thrilling factor we have had within the final five-plus years,” stated Robby Findlay, chairman of the Toyota Nationwide Supplier Advisory Council. “I imply, we have been ready so lengthy for a brand new Tundra; we all know the potential of that full-size-truck market. And from every part that they are telling us, we’ll have greatest at school. I imply, we’ll have a world beater, and it will be enjoyable to actually go toe-to-toe with the home vans.”

The thrill is comprehensible. The present Tundra is so outdated and such an afterthought amongst pickup patrons that in January, Toyota’s full-size pickup was outsold by the Sienna, Toyota’s minivan. Examine that with the Ram pickup, which final 12 months outsold the Chrysler Pacifica 6-to-1.

Manufacturing of the 2022 Tundra is anticipated to start in late fall at Toyota’s pickup meeting plant in San Antonio, after an on-the-fly retool to accommodate the brand new platform with out slowing manufacturing of the hot-selling Tacoma and present Tundra.

This is what is understood concerning the 2022 Tundra:

• It’s the lead car for Toyota’s new world body-on-frame platform, which finally will underpin the remainder of the model’s non-unibody U.S. lineup, with the Sequoia to observe in 2022, and the 4Runner and Tacoma to observe in 2023.
• The 2021 mannequin’s 5.7-liter V-8 and six-speed automated transmission will probably be changed by a turbocharged V-6 and no less than an eight-speed automated transmission, aided by an elective hybrid energy pack tuned particularly to spice up torque and energy, along with serving to gasoline economic system.
• Particulars of the Tundra’s suspension have been hidden on check mules, so it is unclear whether or not it should preserve its stay axles entrance and rear. What is obvious is a change to six-lug wheels, which point out that the redesigned Tundra’s most tow score will probably be larger than the present mannequin’s 10,200 kilos, as will its most payload of 1,730 kilos.
• When it comes to driver help and infotainment, model executives have dedicated that each one of their automobiles would come customary with the newest Toyota Security Sense system. That can imply the addition of a number of sensors and cameras over the prevailing mannequin for issues comparable to lane protecting, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise management and different capabilities. To maintain tempo with others within the section, the brand new Tundra is also more likely to function Toyota’s newest infotainment system.
• The teaser video proven to sellers in November and subsequently leaked revealed entrance and rear LED lighting, together with new stylized accent lights over the headlamps in addition to on the tailgate. Take a look at mules additionally present retractable facet steps and an outsized sunroof, although it is unclear whether or not the options could be customary throughout all fashions.

Whereas Toyota executives have stated little concerning the new Tundra, they’ve acknowledged that the pickup is in want of an replace. They’ve dedicated publicly to the hybrid powertrain and defined that it will be tuned so as to add energy and torque.

The Tundra has been exhibiting its age for some time.

Final 12 months, with 109,203 whole gross sales within the U.S., it as soon as once more positioned fifth out of six full-size pickups in its section, beating solely the Nissan Titan. In truth, because it went on sale within the U.S. in 1999, the Tundra has by no means bested the annual gross sales of any full-size pickup from the Detroit 3.

The Tundra’s present technology dates from 2007 — a 14-year life cycle that’s the pickup equal of a Galapagos tortoise in contrast with the five-year flip of its home rivals. And at 13 mpg metropolis/17 mpg freeway, the gasoline economic system of the 2021 Tundra lags each competitor within the full-size section.

Karl Brauer, a longtime trade analyst who now could be govt writer at CarExpert.com, stated Toyota’s expertise growing the current-generation Tundra was “unlucky,” as a result of the automaker’s determination to upsize the not-quite-full-size Tundra to tackle home vans in 2007 was costly and ill-timed.

Rising gasoline costs after which a worldwide financial collapse simply because the truck was launching took a heavy toll on Toyota’s aspirations within the section, as did the associated fee and development time to get the San Antonio plant up and operating.

“I feel Toyota felt extremely burned by the entire thing,” Brauer stated. “That is not the Toyota method, to endure financially on a brand new product.” Toyota opted to do solely a partial replace of the Tundra in 2014, inflicting the Tundra to fall additional behind its home rivals in know-how.

“I feel they’re in a horrible place now, however they’re dedicated,” Brauer stated.

With the redesign, one factor is obvious: The price of the Tundra is more likely to rise over that of the present mannequin, Findlay stated.

“I do not suppose we understand that with all the brand new bells and whistles and powertrain, we’ll be in a special cost vary, and so we might lose a few of these loyal Tundra prospects,” the supplier council chairman stated. “However I am nonetheless excited at what Toyota goes to supply on the market. It should be unbelievable.”