Tundra launched in Texas
Texas State Fair goers were granted an exclusive look at two new Toyota Tundra pickups on Tuesday, where the automaker sought to show its wares in a venue perfectly suited to make the most of the Tundra's work-inspired physique and powerplant.
The new pickups will be assembled down the road at ToMoCo's brand new billion-dollar assembly plant in San Antonio, which has grown beyond Toyota's expectations. Initially, the facility was only to cost around $600m and create jobs for approximately 2,000 workers. Those figures have now grown substantially, costing Toyota over a billion green backs and employing 4,100 Texans.
It's a huge undertaking and is expected to establish Toyota as a major player in the full size truck market, as long as demand for full-sized pickups doesn't tank as some analysts expect.
The full press release is available after the jump.
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PRESS RELEASE
As New Truck Comes to Market, Texas Region's Sales for Toyota Counter Industry-Wide Trends
DALLAS, Sept. 28 -- At the State Fair of Texas preview today, Toyota rolled out for the first time two prototypes of its 2007 Tundra pickup truck, which will be assembled in its new billion-dollar truck plant in San Antonio.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/toyota/25630 /
"The State Fair is a true icon of Texas, which just happens to be the epicenter of the U.S. light truck market. It's easy to illustrate just how important Texas is to us," said Ernest Bastien, vice president of vehicle operations for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.
"If you need more proof of how important Texas is to Toyota, all you have to do is take a look in San Antonio at our new truck plant there," he said.
Toyota has constructed a new truck plant in San Antonio to produce the 2007 Tundra. Its original projections were that the plant would amount to an investment of $850 million and create 2,000 new jobs. The plant has attracted more suppliers than anticipated from other states to build facilities on Toyota's site, and as a result, the total investment on the site has grown to well more than $1 billion and 4,100 new jobs.
Toby Hynes, president of Gulf States Toyota, the distributor in the five- state region, pointed out, "Dealers in the region are currently investing $600 million to bring their facilities up to the new Toyota standards. At GST, we are investing $70 million in a greatly expanded Vehicle Processing Center in Houston and other facilities ... so we can bring the highest levels of service to our customers."
"So, to put it mildly, Toyota, Gulf States Toyota and our dealers are expanding in Texas in just about every way you can imagine," Hynes said.
"When you add in the investments being made by Gulf States Toyota and our dealers, we are bringing nearly $2 billion worth of new facilities into the economy of Texas," Bastien said.
"The plant is impressive. Huge coils of steel roll into one end of the plant, and finished pickup trucks roll out the other. Inside, there's some of the largest pieces of manufacturing equipment in the state," he said.
Big Truck Fills True Truckers Needs
When it goes on sale next February, the new 2007 Toyota Tundra will be available in 31 different models, with three engine choices -- a fuel-sipping 4.0 liter V6, a 4.7 liter V8, and an all-new 5.7 liter V8. The truck boasts a towing capacity of more than 10,000 pounds.
The new Double Cab long bed truck, which will be seen at the fair for the first time, has an eight-foot bed and a 165-inch wheelbase. The longest Tundra model, it is suitable for carrying a crew of six, plus cargo.
The Regular Cab long bed, also debuting at the fair, has extra storage space behind the driver's seat and what Toyota believes will be the largest interior volume in its class. The Regular Cab is available in a standard grade that includes heavy-duty vinyl flooring and content targeted specifically for work-related use.
"We think both of these trucks will have special appeal with true truckers, including a variety of hard-working commercial and ranch users," Bastien said. "We decided the new Tundra needed to be a truck built exclusively for the customer, not a truck that simply benchmarked the full- size competition."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Bill Maher is an Idiot 2:34PM (9/29/2006)
I think the new Tundra will be a powerhouse. Toyota is banking a lot on this pickup. A lot of folks do find it up there with the Ridgeline when it comes to looks, though.
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Whydrive 2:50PM (9/29/2006)
Only morons buy pickup trucks. They should be driving Yaris, Prius or Camry.
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Jake B 3:00PM (9/29/2006)
I think its just going to be an uphill struggle for Toyota to get marketshare in this segment. You would think that people that want big trucks would already be in love with either Fomoco, GM or Dodge.
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Richard Barkins 3:01PM (9/29/2006)
I think this is one of Toyota's better looking cars (trucks), especially since it doesn't look like it was built with female consumers in mind.
As for "Whydrive" - some people need pickups for hauling junk, something a Yaris isn't made for, unless you're referring to yourself.
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Jamie 3:01PM (9/29/2006)
2. Only morons buy pickup trucks. They should be driving Yaris, Prius or Camry.
Posted at 2:48PM on Sep 29th 2006 by Whydrive 0 stars
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This is not a pickup--it's a Toyota, so it runs on biodiesel, "good feelings" and the approval of your social peers and neighbors.
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Finished Law School 5:56PM (9/29/2006)
A Toyota pick up truck. One of the only trucks in the market that actually has new developments in technology and innovation each time it is redesigned.
Too bad GM can't do that and has been unable to do that for the past 15 years...
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borgie 3:14PM (9/29/2006)
Toyota's awefully popular in Texas. They put a lot of mindshare into the long star state and I'd expect the Tundra to do well there, especially given the fact that the truck was built by Texans. Texas usually drives trends for the rest of the redneck country. Plus some of them will remember that the trucks they love are mostly build by Canadians and Yankees. Some Southerners I know hates the Yanks more than the Japanese, since a lot of severely under-developped Southern cities were rescued by Japanese auto factories. Japs gives them jobs, while yanks look down on them; So you'll never know.
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Bert 3:27PM (9/29/2006)
I tell you what... If they came out with an El-Camry-no I would ding dang buy it.
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Max 3:31PM (9/29/2006)
Toyota may be popular, but consider this. Ford sold more F-150's in Texas last year than Toyota sold Tundra's NATIONWIDE. Toyota is very strong on car sales, but their truck sales pale in comparison to Ford, Chevy and Dodge.
Launching the new Tundra in Texas is a sign that Toyota knows what markets it has to penetrate in order for the truck to be successful.
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GM WHO? 3:39PM (9/29/2006)
Jamie feels like a man driving his.. whatever he thinks is cool. He also probably supports his local mechanics (who all laugh at him and his wanker-mobile behind his back) with all the repairs needed on his cool ride. The best retort he can muster up towards anyone here is 'You must enjoy driving your Camry,' Duh, huh, huh, me Jamie, me so funny. You need to get some 'Good Feelings' of your own Jamie, other than cranking it looking at boy next door porn sites. Good Luck to you Jamie, I hope you can survive living in the real world eith such narrow-mindedness, IDIOT! AND I DON'T DRIVE A CAMRY BRAINIAC!
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Ed 3:40PM (9/29/2006)
OK when is the last time you read about GM building a new billion dollar plant and hiring 4100 AMERICA'S not Canadians or Mexican's but I'm sure most of them in Texas are Mexican. Anyway I'm sure all of you Toy/Hon haters will find something bad about this. #2 I guess that I must be a moron because I drive a pickup and use it all the time. You must be the jackass at Home Depot loading your car with stuff you know won't fit.
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Steve 3:48PM (9/29/2006)
Toyota is going to suffer heavy losses in near future.
Quality is falling, executive arrogance is skyrocketing. Recalls are ballooning and now this Pick-up truck.
Toyota should expand and grow by all means, but not the cost of quality.
Instead of burning billions on junk races like formula 1, toyota should spend that money on product development.
For a tiny fraction of those billions toyota can easily compete in NASCAR, Le Mans and other high end races.
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Tion 4:05PM (10/02/2006)
Jamie, you idiot! biodiesel only works in diesel. duh. and toyota doesnt' even make a diesel.
And ya know what? some people actually NEED pickups. Toyota's just grabbin' a piece of the pie
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Lithous 4:11PM (9/29/2006)
"OK when is the last time you read about GM building a new billion dollar plant and hiring 4100 AMERICA'S not Canadians or Mexican's"
GM sold 4.4 million vehicles in the U.S. last year and Toyota 2.2 million. Since GM is spending $400million just on advertising their large pickups ALONE this model year which doesn't count the Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade advertising, all the small/medium SUVs, and all the cars they spend advertising, my guess is that they spend enough *more* in advertising than Toyota to make up for a nice chunk of the billion Toyota spent for the factory. Especially when you consider that new factories get subsidies from the states. So net cost from Toyota will not be $1B.
Now, as far as the 4000 jobs. How many jobs do you think are supported by the $5.2B in healthcare GM spent last year? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15828-2005Feb10.html
Thanks for playing. Your consulation prize is waiting for you here... http://4brevard.com/choice/international-test-scores.htm
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Lithous 4:19PM (9/29/2006)
Not only does the interior have at least 4 colors of plastic (http://www.autoblog.com/media/2006/02/IMG_4470.jpg) but the exterior looks like they weren't sure how to finish the product so they decided, "Those Americans love big grills so we'll put one on there but to be different it will be upside-down!" http://www.autoblog.com/media/2006/02/01-07-Tundra.jpg
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Ben 4:27PM (9/29/2006)
#2 ... Whydrive said "Only morons buy pickup trucks. They should be driving Yaris, Prius or Camry".
Oh I see. Just because your such a louse and do not do anything like tow a boat, go dirt bike riding, farm, tow a trailer, or haul construction materials .... to
build a home for dimwits like yourself who cannot see past the end of their self righteous beaks ... you think we all should buy a Yaris. Well you go buy your Yaris and next time you want some remodling on your
house ... either go sleep in the back seat of your little Yaris pot... or you take that excuse for a car and put some plywood and 2x4's in the back of it to transport it to your cave. You might want to take some lessons on how to use a hammer also as I suspect you do not do anything that normal people do.
"Whydrive" is a good handle for you. You probably do not drive. Nor do you think or make any sense. Your a poor excuse for a joke.
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ghughes 4:35PM (9/29/2006)
800,000 lost american auto jobs in the last 20 years!- go toyo! This is great that Tx is spending so many billions to bring them here. Really, I am so thrilled.
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Ed 4:37PM (9/29/2006)
Lithous....who the hell was talking about advertising? Real jobs here inside our shores not closed plants and layed of employees because of mismanagement, poor quailty and rebadged ugly shit boxes. Thanks but try again..you lose moron! You drive a pint Chevette don't you, that's sweet.
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Ryan 4:44PM (9/29/2006)
"The best retort he can muster up towards anyone here is 'You must enjoy driving your Camry,' Duh, huh, huh, me Jamie, me so funny. You need to get some 'Good Feelings' of your own Jamie, other than cranking it looking at boy next door porn sites."
-No actually he will have more retort, cue the "your a liberal" in 3-2-1...
But he is a classic "post-n-go" anyway, I doubt he will be back :-)
" you think we all should buy a Yaris. Well you go buy your Yaris and next time you want some remodling on your
house ... either go sleep in the back seat of your little Yaris pot... "
-That's why I have money, pay someone to do that shit not me! And for the right price they will do it all with a fucking Prius if I demand it :-)
"Quality is falling, executive arrogance is skyrocketing. Recalls are ballooning and now this Pick-up truck."
-WHAT is wrong with "passenger priority" pickup trucks? Have you ever experienced "Ram-Hop" in the Dodge ram? Those truck are not bad but they are "cargo priority" pickups. And cargo is not my main priority, but sometimes need to haul some things from Lowes and such, ergo "passenger priority" pickups are the better choice for most people.
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toyota's end is near 4:49PM (9/29/2006)
If toyota does not get its act together its going to be a massive disaster. Quality is in free fall, arrogance is at an all time high.
The end is near.
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