Photo: Toyota/Instagram
As always, in recent years, the Japanese automaker retained the U.S. market mid-size pickup truck delivery crown for 2022 with help from the third-generation Tacoma, which sold over 237k units last year.
That figure is more than General Motors managed with its two Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon siblings, combined, for example. But that does not mean that competition is not heating up and that Toyota should rest on its laurels. After all, the D41 Nissan Frontier is finally standalone for North America after shedding DNA ties with the international Navara, while the Colorado and Canyon brothers are also all-new and ready for a fresh brawl. Hey, even the slow-selling unibody Ridgeline might be in for yet another refresh, and even Ford will soon introduce the T6.2 Ranger to its home market.
As such, probably no one was surprised that Toyota’s iconic mid-size pickup truck nameplate has attracted a lot of attention both in the real world as well as the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, recently. This is because some leaked patent images helped the latter imagine the next Tacoma as a little Tundra, from all angles, both inside and out. But that is not all, of course.
Even the Japanese carmaker has joined the frenzy with the start of the teaser campaign for the 2024 model year – and the dark image showing the pickup truck at dawn or dusk also gave off strong full-size Tundra vibes. Now, though, the company is back to sneaky games on its social media channels. The latest image with the Tacoma is not of the all-new fourth generation, at least not primarily. Instead, the blue Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4 is a current 2023 model year that dwells around town with a caption reading “patented good looks…”
Well, this is quite in-your-face, actually, if we remember the leaked patent images and connect them to the brick building’s ‘Brazilian Patent Office’ sign. Plus, right next to it, in the background, there is a blurry modern truck, and we bet our pocket and lunch money that it is not a Tundra TRD Pro sitting there all gray but rather the latest iteration of the Tacoma, itself. Last, but not least, let us also take a look at the blue pickup truck itself, as the mid-size workhorse is probably not resting there just for a nifty shot.
Instead, we feel pretty darn positive that it is there for a specific reason. As such, the license plate does not just have random numbers like any other generic model out there. They read ‘040423,’ which was most likely spelled out as April 4, 2023. That is just a day ahead of the 2023 New York Auto Show’s media day – and probably means that Toyota wants to steal the spotlight just a few hours before the mid-size pickup truck’s first public appearance at the motoring event!
As such, probably no one was surprised that Toyota’s iconic mid-size pickup truck nameplate has attracted a lot of attention both in the real world as well as the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, recently. This is because some leaked patent images helped the latter imagine the next Tacoma as a little Tundra, from all angles, both inside and out. But that is not all, of course.
Even the Japanese carmaker has joined the frenzy with the start of the teaser campaign for the 2024 model year – and the dark image showing the pickup truck at dawn or dusk also gave off strong full-size Tundra vibes. Now, though, the company is back to sneaky games on its social media channels. The latest image with the Tacoma is not of the all-new fourth generation, at least not primarily. Instead, the blue Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4 is a current 2023 model year that dwells around town with a caption reading “patented good looks…”
Well, this is quite in-your-face, actually, if we remember the leaked patent images and connect them to the brick building’s ‘Brazilian Patent Office’ sign. Plus, right next to it, in the background, there is a blurry modern truck, and we bet our pocket and lunch money that it is not a Tundra TRD Pro sitting there all gray but rather the latest iteration of the Tacoma, itself. Last, but not least, let us also take a look at the blue pickup truck itself, as the mid-size workhorse is probably not resting there just for a nifty shot.
Instead, we feel pretty darn positive that it is there for a specific reason. As such, the license plate does not just have random numbers like any other generic model out there. They read ‘040423,’ which was most likely spelled out as April 4, 2023. That is just a day ahead of the 2023 New York Auto Show’s media day – and probably means that Toyota wants to steal the spotlight just a few hours before the mid-size pickup truck’s first public appearance at the motoring event!
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