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50 Years of Toyota: The History of the Toyota Truck

On October 31st, 1957, Toyota Motor Sales was founded in the U.S. In the 50 years since, Toyota has grown from a small Japanese import auto manufacturer that no one took seriously to one of the largest auto manufacturers in the world. The history of Toyota is a story about success. Part of the story is the growth of Toyota trucks, and 50 years seems like a good time to review the history of Toyota trucks in the United States.

The first Toyota truck brought to the US was the 1963 Toyota LandCruiser truck. Available in small numbers for only four years in the U.S. market (1963-67), these are highly sought-after collector's items. In addition to being imported to the US, these vehicles were produced by Toyota internationally for many years after 1967 and can be found overseas.

Following the LandCruiser truck, Toyota imported the "Stout". Available in 1964, this was the obvious predecessor of the Toyota HiLux. The Stout, like the HiLux that followed, was only available in one configuration - a reg. cab and a 4-cylinder engine. The Stout's last year was 1968, after which the Toyota Hilux Pickup truck officially replaced the Stout.

Toyota's HiLux was their first truck to achieve sales success. The "HiLux" name, as groovy as it sounds, was officially dropped from Toyota Trucks in 1975. From that point forward, all small Toyota trucks were known as "Toyota Pickups". The HiLux/Toyota Pickup developed pretty fast. In 1975, Toyota offered the SR5 package for the first time. In 1979, Toyota offered a four-wheel-drive option on their truck. In 1983 Toyota offered the "Xtra Cab" Toyota Pickup and received a lot of praise for doing so. The Toyota Pickup's value, quality, and performance helped Toyota achieve some cultural status. After all, who could forget the Toyota truck in the movie Back To The Future?

In 1993, Toyota introduced their first attempt at a full-size truck, the T100. Many critics found the T100 supremely lacking in terms of power because a V8 engine was not available. Today, despite this limitation, there are a lot of loyal T100 owners who will argue it was one of Toyota's best trucks ever. By all accounts, the T100 was a flop plagued by poor sales.

The "Toyota Pickup" finally got a proper name in 1995. Officially branded the Tacoma, the "Taco" is revered by off-road enthusiasts everywhere. In fact, the Tacoma is easily Toyota's largest commercial success in the U.S. truck market. The 1995 Tacoma offered an excellent combination of performance, power, and off-road ability, while still being a very inexpensive vehicle in it's basic form.

Toyota made another attempt at a making a full-size truck in 1999, releasing the new 2000 Tundra a year early. The new full-size Tundra featured a reasonably powerful 4.7L V8, a larger frame, bigger interior, and greater hauling and towing capabilities than the truck it replaced (the T100). When the Tundra debuted it was a decent seller and a critical hit. The new Tundra was named Motor Trend's "Truck of The Year" in 1999, and sales topped 126k units in 2004.

Toyota brought out a completely re-designed Tacoma in 2004. This new larger Tacoma managed to rival it's big-brother, the Tundra, in size and power. Despite this new Tacoma being the biggest and most expensive Taco yet, it still managed to honor Toyota's compact pickup roots in terms of value and off-road performance. The new Tacoma has been nothing short of a complete success, as it is currently the best-selling compact truck on the market.

In 2007 Toyota released the 2nd generation Tundra. This new Tundra overcame all the criticism that Toyota's full-size trucks were really only 7/8th size. The new Tundra offers the most powerful engine in it's class, a 5.7L V8 with 381hp. The new Tundra has been extremely popular, setting full-size Toyota truck sales records. Much of the new Tundra's success is due to it's class-leading 10,800 lb tow rating, which is made possible by the powerful engine and advanced 6 speed automatic transmission.

What will Toyota come up with next? The future seems to hold both hybrid and diesel engine trucks, as well as the possibility of bringing back the concept of a small, simple, and inexpensive truck in the Scion line. Who knows all that could happen in 50 years...

Article Source: http://www.articlemap.com

Author Jason Lancaster has worked in the auto business and with the Toyota Tundra for almost 10 years. Find more Tundra Reviews at his website, www.tundraheadquarters.com.

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