Toyota dealers in the United States are demanding a small truck to compete with the likes of the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. As per Toyota Motor North America group vice president and general manager David Christ, the answer is nope, not happening.
Speaking to Automotive News, the official said: "We're not announcing anything to the dealers. I won't even say 'yet' because that would suggest it's coming." Just over a month ago, the cited publication published a report according to which Toyota would launch a modern-day take on the Stout with underpinnings from the Corolla. With this gentleman's answer, it's clear that Toyota isn't fully on board with this idea.
Why, though? Is there a good reason to leave the Maverick and Santa Cruz alone in the highly lucrative US pickup truck market? If you take a good look over their sales reports, that's a bit fat yes.
Maverick deliveries totaled 42,499 units in the first half of 2023, and the Escape on which it's based is listed by Ford with 64,839 units. The Santa Cruz did worse, posting 20,050 deliveries in the first half, down 10 percent from the 18,203 from H1 2022.
Back in 2022, full-year sales were 74,370 for the Maverick and 36,480 for the Santa Cruz. Given these numbers, a company as conservative and savvy as Toyota doesn't intend to bet everything on black.
Toyota further understands that it has a good alternative to the F-150 in the Tundra and the best-selling midsizer of the bunch in the Tacoma. Spending millions of dollars to convert a unibody sedan into a unibody truck – with no guarantee of breaking even – is too risky in this day and age.
Photo: Toyota
Truth be told, the Japanese automaker is more focused on EV development nowadays. Toyota is far behind the competition in many EV-related aspects, hence the abysmal delivery numbers of the bZ4X.
Toyota stopped making the Stout in February 2000. In most countries where the Stout was offered, Toyota replaced it with the Hilux. Over in North America, the Hilux was known as the Toyota Pickup until the Tacoma rolled out for model year 1995.
Whether the Japanese company is working in the background on a potential successor to the Stout, only time will tell. According to Automotive News, the newcomer would have started production in 2027 at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi. 2,400 people work there, churning out the Corolla to the tune of 132,684 examples in 2022 alone.
If the Stout does come back on the TNGA-C platform of the Corolla, then look forward to both naturally-aspirated I4 engines and hybrid options. All-wheel drive would be on the table as well, most probably in the form of a Prius AWD-like setup. The only pickups on sale today to offer hybrid options are the Maverick, Tacoma, Tundra, and F-150.
The Maverick carries a starting price of $23,400 (excluding destination charge) or $24,900 for the FWD-only hybrid. The 2024 model year Tacoma hasn't gone on sale, yet we do know the outgoing truck is available to configure at $28,600. The Tundra is $39,965 or $57,625 for the i-FORCE MAX twin-turbo V6 hybrid, whereas the Ford F-150 PowerBoost is currently going for $43,375 for the XL SuperCrew with 2WD.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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