Toyota Sequoia, Tacoma: 'love to have them here' but not likely

When the new-generation Toyota Sequoia was revealed early last year, the gentrified SUV version of the monster Tundra pick-up truck – complete with 4.0-tonne towing – had two chances of ever coming to Australia: Buckley’s and none.

But everything changed when Toyota Australia confirmed plans to convert the Tundra to right-hand drive for sale in our market, complete with a full five-year factory warranty and extensive aftersales support that 275 dealerships nationwide afford.

Toyota Oz has no firm plans at this stage to ‘remanufacture’ the Seqouia alongside the Tundra, but the man heading up the world’s first factory-backed right-hand drive Tundra project told carsales recently that more US-built vehicles could be sold in Aussie dealerships if the business case measured up.

“North America’s got some products that Aussies would love but it’s still got to make a business case,” said Toyota Australia’s engineering lead for Tundra, Ray Munday.

“Sequoia is pretty cool and of course there’s vehicles like the Tacoma.”

While the Toyota Sequoia would surely find favour with plenty of Australian buyers – following in the giant footsteps of GMSV’s recently confirmed Chevrolet Silverado-based GMC Yukon – Munday said that vehicles like the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and Toyota HiLux would create ‘overlap’ for the Sequoia and Tacoma respectively.

“Based on our customers, there was a really strong need for a product [like Tundra] in this segment. This vehicle stands on its own. If anything, there are customers that we couldn’t keep because of that gap,” he said.

“Whereas when you start talking about these other products where there’s more overlap, then that would obviously need a different business case.”

Given the Tundra and Sequoia share almost identical powertrains and platform architecture, the technicalities wouldn’t pose a problem.

While the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series already fulfils the role of a large three-row, off-road and tow-capable 4WD in Australia, the Sequoia remains an altogether different proposition.

For starters, it’s propelled by the same 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol-electric hybrid powertrain as the Aussie Tundra, generating a stump-pulling 325kW of power and 790Nm of torque and capable of towing just over 4000kg (9000lb).

The Toyota LandCruiser, meanwhile, relies on a 3.3-litre twin-turbo diesel V6, maxes out at 227kW and 700Nm and is not rated to tow more than 3500kg.

Ford Australia is also eager to expand its US vehicle conversion portfolio beyond the Ford F-150, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see Toyota examining similar projects.

The Toyota Tacoma is a much harder sell in Australia, given it’s a petrol-only proposition in a segment where customers demand diesel.

Furthermore, Toyota Australia will be keen not to cannibalise sales of the similarly-sized Toyota HiLux – Australia’s top-selling vehicle for seven of the past eight years, having only just been toppled by the Ford Ranger in 2023.

Watch this space…