Chevrolet, Ford, and Ram unveiled a number of new
trucks at the Texas State Fair but Toyota declined to make any major
announcements. That's changing today as Toyota's North American vice president
of marketing, Ed Laukes, has confirmed a number of updated models are under
development.
Speaking with Automotive News, Laukes said the
"competition is getting stronger and stronger" and the company is
planning to address that by updating their aging trucks and SUVs. While he
declined to give a timeline, Laukes confirmed Toyota is already working on
updated versions of the 4Runner, Sequoia, and Tundra.
Little is known about the upcoming models but Laukes
said "powertrains are obviously a big piece of anyone's equation as we
work on CAFE standards." He went on to say all options are the on the
table to increase fuel-efficiency and "There's absolutely no reason we couldn't have a hybrid truck."
Toyota isn't just focused on the development of
the aforementioned models as Laukes said the company will keep improving the
Tacoma which is facing stiff competition from the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC
Canyon. The truck will also have to battle the Ford Ranger shortly and Toyota
is committed to keeping the model at the "top of the class."