Given the impressive sales achieved by Ford and Hyundai with their Maverick and Santa Cruz in the compact pickup segment, Toyota, it seems, is also planning to launch its own unibody offering in the segment. The urban-friendly pickup could use the TNGA platform and will offer car-like characteristics to customers looking for a less rugged and practical option for their daily usage.
The top officials of Toyota overlooking its operations in North America confirmed that the company is exploring the possibility of coming up with a compact pickup. The model will complement its current market coverage alongside Tacoma and be specifically aligned with the needs of urban consumers. To that end, Toyota will use the TNGA platform to spawn a unibody small pickup as choosing the rugged and more expensive ladder-on-frame chassis architecture will not only shoot up the cost but also deviate from the specific requirements of the customer segment.
Prominent ladder-on-frame offerings of Toyota include Hilux, Tacoma, Tundra, and Land Cruiser 70 and the addition of a unibody compact pickup will definitely act as a force multiplier for the company. Especially by sharing the platform with Highlander and RAV4, the new unibody propositions could be developed in an economical manner. Clearly, such a model will allow Toyota to transcend its conventional customer base and bring new segments to its fold who want to have small pickups for city-oriented purposes.
The possible announcement in this regard might surface soon and the US markets could get the new Toyota unibody pickup as early as 2024 or 2025. The company is also gearing up to offer a new-gen Tacoma based on the same underpinnings as of Land Cruiser. The new range of Tacoma will also include an electric variant which has already been previewed as a concept model in 2021.
