It packs a long-awaited 4.7L V-8 that can crank out 245 hp at 4,800 rpm, and marks Toyota Motor Sales USA's first serious foray into the high-volume full-size pickup truck market.
Don Esmond, Toyota Div. general manager, expects to sell about 80,000 annually once the new Princeton, IN, assembly plant is revved up to full production next spring. The plant is designed to build 150,000 light trucks a year. Toyota is expected to announce plans to assemble another model there.
While 80,000 trucks a year pales in comparison with the 746,111 F-series trucks Ford Motor Co. sold in 1997 and the 553,729 C/K pickups Chevrolet sold last year, it would be a huge improvement from Toyota's V-6-powered T100, which never sold more than 38,000 in any one year. But it will be hitting the market in the wake of General Motors Corp.'s redesigned GMT800 pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra.
The Tundra also will be available with a 3.4L V-6 and will come in either regular or extended cab. The latter will have four doors.
Toyota has not released pricing information for the new truck.
