This Is What We Can Expect From Toyota's 2024 Tacoma Pickup Truck

While perhaps not as exciting as Toyota's sports car range, the Tacoma is a big deal for Toyota in the United States. And there is the chance that the Tacoma may even rival some of its larger opponents, such as the Ford F-150 and the latest generation of the Chevrolet Silverado.

How the 2024 Tacoma will look

The current indication for the upcoming Tacoma is that it will be more of an evolution, rather than an actual revolution. Images from a design patent leaked via Brazil reveal quite the rugged design for the pickup truck, with an updated grille and bulkier bodywork such as the wheel fenders area. The Tacoma looks to have taken some design inspiration from the Tundra SUV. The slats underneath the headlights are one detail the pickup has taken from its sibling. The actual headlights look likely to be more aggressive as we can see in the patents.

The radiator grille area sees significant changes, too, becoming narrower than that of the outgoing generation but with a larger air dam underneath. While the new design isn't a massive change over the current Tacoma, the pickup will likely offer a sharper-looking vehicle overall. Cleaner lines and a more modern look similar to what Toyota's recent SUV releases have been. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Tacoma is that an electric version might be on the way. The zero-emission version was previewed by a that Toyota unveiled a couple of years ago.

What we know about an electric 2024 Tacoma

The concept for the electric Tacoma was unveiled at the end of 2021. And very little is known about it so far, other than what we have seen with that concept. Back then, the design showed an even sharper front end than the recent design patent images, with the grille area blanked off to create a clean, fresh look. As an EV, a large grille isn’t needed, but the air dam is, as you would expect, still there for cooling purposes. The overall design is very similar to the patent images of the pickup truck.

This suggests that the design patent images are the real Tacoma and that the EV concept is likely to be what the production version will look like. We don't have any word on the pricing of the Tacoma EV, although Toyota’s all-electric bZ4X XLE starts at $42,000, which gives us some idea as to the Tacoma’s cost. Some rumors place the price of the Tacoma EV at around $50,000, which is what you would probably expect from an electric pickup truck. For context, the F-150 Lightning from Ford starts at $58,514.

How strong will the 2024 Tacoma be?

There is very little to go on so far about the Tacoma. The current generation, however, despite its long life, is still a reliable, robust, and very useful pickup truck. Reviews have praised it over the years, and it's likely that more extensive changes are expected under the hood for the next-gen truck versus the actual appearance of the 2024 Tacoma.

It looks like the Tacoma will be a hybrid at least, with an I-Force Max badge appearing on the tailgate of the model via a Toyota teaser. The move will bring the Toyota truck in line with its main rivals from Ford, Chevrolet, and GMC.

With extra hybrid power, an electric version, and a new drivetrain on the way, there is a lot of potential in the new pickup. The 3.5-liter V6 powertrain from the current generation is likely to make way for the 2.4-liter turbocharged inline-four engine from the Toyota Crown, complete with hybrid power.

The upcoming Toyota Tacoma is very exciting

The upcoming generation of the Tacoma looks like it will improve upon the outgoing model, and give the pickup the refresh that it needs. While not counting on a major change, Toyota knows that the fundamental underpinnings of the truck are as strong as they have ever been. They can afford not to go big as if it isn’t broken, there is really no need to don’t fix it.

As this year progresses, we should get more concrete details on the Tacoma as well as an announcement on a TRD Pro version of the pickup truck. And we should then get confirmation of the various engine options that the new pickup truck will sport as well.