Toyota Tundra ‘book is not closed’ for Australia

Toyota Australia’s desire to offer the Toyota Tundra full-size pick-up, complete with a 5.4-tonne towing capacity, across its 300-strong dealer network is stronger than the high-grade steel used in the big ute’s robust ladder frame.

But the company is continuing to struggle to make the business case work, and in the six months since we last canvassed Toyota Australia on its local plans for Tundra, the leadership team is still looking at strategies to bring it here.

“It’s a vehicle we continue to study,” a representative for Toyota Australia told carsales.

“The book is not closed on the business case but Toyota will always prioritise right-hand drive from factory.

“At present there’s no right-hand drive to left-hand drive conversion anywhere on the planet for Toyota.”

That means a factory-backed local conversion program such as the one Ford Australia recently established for the Ford F-150 pick-up remains a tough sell for Toyota Oz, but still looks to be the primary option open to it.

Asked about the likelihood of following in Ford’s footsteps with a similar program for Tundra, our contact at Toyota said: “It’s not impossible.

“We have our centre of excellence along with technical and engineering resources in the country.

“But there’s a lot of hoops to jump through.”

Australia is where the Toyota HiLux Rugged X was developed and where some elements of the new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series were engineered.

The forthcoming Ford F-150 is expected to attract strong interest among Australian buyers as the Blue Oval brand taps into the rich vein mined by Ateco Automotive with its hugely successful RAM trucks conversion program, which has factory backing and is executed by Walkinshaw Automotive in Melbourne.

Walkinshaw also ‘remanufactures’ the Chevrolet Silverado for General Motors Speciality Vehicles (GMSV), while the Ford program will be handled by RMA Automotive.

A local Tundra program would concentrate on conventional powertrains led by the stump-pulling twin-turbo petrol V6, but Toyota’s plan to offer a full-size battery-electric pick-up – previewed by the Pickup EV unveiled late last year – will also see the Aussie operation consider a Tundra EV.

Ford Australia is already studying the Ford F-150 Lightning, while the Rivian R1T and Chevrolet Silverado EV are also prospects for Australia in the next few years.

Toyota has invested billions in an ambitious EV program that will see 30 new electric vehicles join its portfolio by the end of the decade, including a pick-up.

Toyota is aware of the intense customer demand for vehicles with big towing capacities, in particular those that can eclipse the 3.5-tonne towing limits of most dual-cab utes and large SUVs, such as the Toyota HiLux and Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.

The Tundra-based Toyota Sequoia upper-large SUV is another vehicle that could provide greater towing levels, up to around 4.0 tonnes, but it faces the same dilemma as its tray-back cousin.

“For our market the LandCruiser 300 Series is doing a good job filling that niche; the demand here is not as strong for Sequoia, not like the demand we’ve seen for big pick-up trucks,” the Toyota rep said.

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