HD Tundra in Limbo

A heavy-duty version of Toyota Motor Corp.'s new fullsize Tundra pickup truck is in limbo, an executive says.

“It's not green-lighted; it's not red-lighted,” Bob Carter, group vice president and general manager-Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., tells Ward's at a Toyota media event.

Carter, who took up his post recently after leading Toyota's Lexus luxury division in the U.S. for two years, would like to see such a vehicle, noting there is a market for a heavy-duty Tundra.

“Not only is there a market, but it's a great addition to the whole truck lineup,” Carter says.

Although heavy-duty versions of fullsize pickups traditionally are niche models, Ford Motor Co.'s F-Series Super Duty accounted for 40% of all F-Series sales in the U.S. in April (see review, p. 41).

Detroit's Big Three all offer heavy-duty fullsize pickups, while Toyota and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. do not.

Nissan reportedly has canceled plans for an HD Titan due to the cost of developing such a model, which needs a dedicated platform among other components.

The '07 Tundra fullsize pickup has received much ink since its launch in February, not all of it positive.

Carter bristles at the notion the vehicle is not meeting expectations, but admits Toyota got the projected mix wrong among the body styles and engines.

Also, Toyota projected the B-cab model would account for 10% of the total volume, which to date has not happened.

Toyota has had to apply more incentives to the B-cab Tundra than the Double Cab (C-cab) and CrewMax (D-cab) models.