Photo: Ford
Back during a time when American trucks weren’t honking large, Japanese automakers entered the scene with smaller alternatives. Toyota stands out as the biggest winner of the bunch, more so if you remember that Marty McFly drives a Toyota instead of a Ford, Chevy, or Dodge.
Fast forward to 2022, and the Japanese automaker still hasn’t chipped away at the Big Three in Detroit as far as full-size trucks are concerned. But when it comes to mid-size pickups, the Tacoma reigns supreme in this segment.
The good ol’ Tacoma sold 252,520 copies in the United States of America last year, much more than Ford’s Ranger and General Motors’ Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. At the other end of the spectrum, the Nissan Frontier couldn’t do better than 60,693 deliveries in this part of the world.
With the introduction of the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick, which are crossover-based compact pickups featuring a unibody construction, the peeps at Toyota currently wonder if the time is right to make a small truck again. Jack Hollis, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor North America, highlighted that there is space for this kind of vehicle.
Hollis told Automotive News that “we’ve continued to look [into the compact pickup segment] for a long time,” which reads “we still haven’t made up our minds yet.” Be that as it may, Toyota cannot go down a different route from Hyundai and Ford. In other words, the best starting point for a trucklet would be the next generation of the ever-popular RAV4 compact utility vehicle.
Dubbed XA50, the fifth generation was unveiled in March 2018 at the New York International Auto Show. Based on the TNGA-K platform that underpins D- and E-segment vehicles, the outgoing RAV4 is available with a free-breathing mill, as a hybrid, and as a plug-in hybrid in the U.S.
Pricing starts at $26,975 for the combustion-only powertrain, followed by $29,575 for the hybrid and $40,300 for the PHEV. Believe it or not, the RAV4 Prime is capable of hitting 60 mph (97 kph) in five-odd clicks.
The good ol’ Tacoma sold 252,520 copies in the United States of America last year, much more than Ford’s Ranger and General Motors’ Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. At the other end of the spectrum, the Nissan Frontier couldn’t do better than 60,693 deliveries in this part of the world.
With the introduction of the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick, which are crossover-based compact pickups featuring a unibody construction, the peeps at Toyota currently wonder if the time is right to make a small truck again. Jack Hollis, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor North America, highlighted that there is space for this kind of vehicle.
Hollis told Automotive News that “we’ve continued to look [into the compact pickup segment] for a long time,” which reads “we still haven’t made up our minds yet.” Be that as it may, Toyota cannot go down a different route from Hyundai and Ford. In other words, the best starting point for a trucklet would be the next generation of the ever-popular RAV4 compact utility vehicle.
Dubbed XA50, the fifth generation was unveiled in March 2018 at the New York International Auto Show. Based on the TNGA-K platform that underpins D- and E-segment vehicles, the outgoing RAV4 is available with a free-breathing mill, as a hybrid, and as a plug-in hybrid in the U.S.
Pricing starts at $26,975 for the combustion-only powertrain, followed by $29,575 for the hybrid and $40,300 for the PHEV. Believe it or not, the RAV4 Prime is capable of hitting 60 mph (97 kph) in five-odd clicks.
Google News