Toyota Reveals Maverick-Sized Electric Pickup Concept We've Been Waiting For
thedrive.com
thedrive.com
This is an SUV that is vaguely truck shaped.
I want a small truck with a 6 foot/ 2m bed, and regular cab so the vehicle is still a reasonable length that can fit in a parking space. 3/4 ton or 1 ton suspension like on some of the old small Toyota trucks would be ideal. I'd like to get this small truck with a few safety features like air bags that are missing from the 70's - early 90's Japanese trucks that otherwise fit the bill.
I don't understand why automakers seem incapable of building a small truck anymore. There are smaller cars that pass safety testing, so that is not it.
It seems like being all-electric should get you around that mileage requirement, so it's possible that that last one is not as much of a factor. But that is the conventional wisdom about why they won't sell an actual compact truck in the U.S. market, despite the fact that all those old Toyotas and Rangers from the 90s are still being kept on the road because people love them.
Now that large trucks have settled in consumer perception as the new and shiny, it's a self-enforcing vicious cycle regardless of regulatory reform.
The 2024 Tacoma will be available with 2 doors and a 6 foot bed. It won't be a "regular" cab, more like the slightly extended cab from back in the jump seat days. But no jump seats, just storage cubbies.
But if you check out the Ford Maverick you can put 3/4 of a ton in the bed, and you get modern safety features.
Putting that aside, if they thought they'd move the numbers to justify it, I'm sure they'd build what you want.
The Prius is an amazing car, and probably responsible for the biggest portion of electric vehicle operation given the numbers.
Their philosophy, and it's backed by numbers, is that it's better to put a little bit of battery in a lot of cars than a lot of battery in a few cars.
They're dancing around the EV trend. They'll psy it lip service to sell in the US market, but that's it.
Toyota is not a fan of the EV. Given who they are they probably have good reasons for it.
I did not read the article but in the current state of battery technology and charger availability that seems the prudent thing to do, especially so for pickup trucks.
There’s ~0% chance that Toyota is going to release a mass market production car with a Yoke as its primary option.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/lexus-rz-steering-yoke/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agMrewRJTow
Your "hard pass" means you're unwilling to buy a concept car that isn't available for you to purchase.
Also, the yoke is not a Tesla invention, F1 cars use yokes too, and with Toyota having a history in F1, this may be a nod to that.
Sure you can haul a lot of stuff in a mini van or SUV but largely you run the risk of ruining the interior which I would prefer not to do in my vehicles.
- Carrying oversized items (tall) with proper tie-downs
- Carrying oversized items (long) with proper tie-downs and lights/flags
In case this isn't a rhetorical question, read up about research which tries to link (car) color choices to the state of the economy for instance. It's pretty interesting really.
I'm personally tired of the EV revolution being delayed by manufacturers insisting on tying it to high end or luxury-status cars. Until this trend stops, I'll stick to my beaten up Chevy Volt.
Maybe, the non-commercial utility truck folks will start taking interest when 5-10 year old models enter the used market if they're still functional and proven to be durable. At least I will - My use case is basically hauling loads of (sometimes literal) crap around the surrounding towns where EV range is no concern, and where cosmetic body damage is unavoidable so tons of integrated sensors are bad. It is disappointing that there are no electric trucks priced accordingly to this use case as ICE sedans are better for long highway trips and I really only want a beater truck for local trips
Also would seem cool to be able to weld from the car battery but realistically would want a backup generator to avoid trouble
Those are the only cars that have cost sufficiently inflated by nonessential niceties that some culling can free up the money required to buy battery for non-trivial range. ICE and gearboxes are ridiculously cheap compared car-sized batteries and at the lower end of the market there simply isn't much to skip outside engine and transmission.
I will still respond - this is a popular sentiment, and there is plenty of truth in it for many "fancy truck" buyers. Still, because of the area I live in, there's a much higher mix of people that insist on buying the base trim level with the biggest bed and whatever payload/towing capacity they actually need due to their jobs or serious work they get done. I know a ton of those people, and only a handful that have fancy overpriced trucks that they use for commuting (and status symbols, or at least, how it makes them feel to be in a big truck). But yeah - that doesn't seem to be relevant to this truck.
I am not particularly paranoid about crime but I can't understand the appeal of the pickup truck bed. My dad was a carpenter and never had anybody steal tools out of a 1970s boat car or a VW Rabbit that he took the back seats out of. I learned to drive in an underpowered F150 that struggled to make it up hills on the freeway. I thought it was hard to shift at the time and eventually discovered it was easier to drive a school bus or a pre-synchromesh tractor than to drive that truck. Multiple times he had people smash the windows on the bed cover and steal tools.
To the contrary for years the one vehicle on our farm was a Honda Fit and we never had trouble stuffing feed bags, sawdust bags and the occasional hay bale in the back.
As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, those that value a bed use it as an "outdoor" trailer. Load it with firewood so the bigger, the better so you're not driving some tricky route between trees to get to the wood you're moving more times than you need to. Throw literal horse manure in there. Back up to the feed store and let them throw 100 lb bags on there.
The SUV (or hatchback) makes more sense depending the use ratio. Mostly commute but sometimes pick up feed bags? OK Honda Fit! Mostly drive around the farm and move gross stuff or loads of rocks and wood? Get the truck.
A small, cheap truck for light loads is what most haulers really need.
What lots of people buy instead is a symbol to defend their masculinity.
My wife runs a riding academy, we might have the only one that doesn't own a big ass truck, but we might be the only one that was cashflow profitable (though not to the IRS) in the first year and every year thereafter.
A lot of people trailer horses 10-30 miles to state forests go trail riding, often to places where there is not only no electric service but no power line. (We have some really nice trails on our farm, and roads and trails to ride on right out our driveway)
Other people drive 50-100 to go to a horse show on many weekends. You might be able to find an electric outlet but not a fast charger.
The high end of horse trailering is that many people make a pilgrimage to Ocala, FL every winter which might be driving 1000 miles with animals that don't appreciate the stress.
For this application you really want the biggest vehicle you can get, the GMC Suburban has been a top choice for years. You need better range than this:
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/ford-f150-lightning-elect...
The Ford Maverick, which is wildly successful, took the Escape innards, put a small truck bed on it, and then made the interior incredibly utilitarian. So utilitarian in fact that they give you 3D printer diagrams and attachment points to make your own accessories. Everything is inexpensive but hardy materials with tons of storage. The exterior looks exactly like a full sized truck, but smaller.
Toyota's small truck is choc full of gimmicks, futurism, with looks to match. This is exactly the kind of thing first generation EVs did which consumers hated, and most of the market has moved on from. Even Tesla stopped with the yoke. I dread to think how much Toyota will charge for this, I'm guessing starting $50K MSRP, even with the bZ4X struggling at $42K.
If Toyota were taking this seriously they just would have made it look like a baby Tacoma with a similar but cheaper/simpler interior and the bZ4X innards.
If it's a crumple zone thing, VW seem to be managing with their new bus
https://www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/e4948b43b5a2e77ce3119ebe70...
If you look at that picture you can see the steering wheel and the drive is behind the front wheels. They just extended the front windshield to give the same look at the older vans.
There's no details about powertrain or battery. The company is trying to cover their butts. They've missed both the move towards EVs and the return of compact trucks.
Toyota - "NO."