Toyota’s Hot Street Truck: Outperform the Off-Roads
No one anticipated Toyota to install a twin-turbo V6 from the Tundra into the new Tacoma X-Runner Concept for SEMA, but it did anyway, and now the news is that the auto maker intends to put this wild build into production. CarBuzz had a conversation with Sheldon Brown, Chief Engineer of Toyota USA, about the concept, and he revealed to us that if there is enough enthusiasm, the company wants to make it happen. “If we can get a ground swell, it’s something we want to do,” he said. “We can initiate development thanks to the flexibility of the platform.”
There is likely to be a surge of enthusiasm among prospective purchasers for this to take off. Pickup trucks equipped with great horse power have been an especially profitable group; the Ford F-150 Raptor and Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison have both prioritized off-roading. Toyota, however, feels that it is now time for the sector to introduce something that moves in the opposite direction – a road-tearing machine, as typified by the classic Ford SVT Lightning.
“In the early 2000s, there were plenty of street trucks, but they eventually disappeared. This prompted us to investigate whether or not there is still an appetite for street trucks, or if the market has shifted to the more contemporary, tough and lifted vehicles,” said Adam Rabinowitz, Chief Designer at Toyota’s Calty Design Research. “It was a curiosity check to see what people are looking for these days.”
“The launch of the Tacoma has opened the door to a world of possibilities with its new architecture,” said Brown in the concept’s press release. “The TGNA-F platform has enabled us to create something extraordinary in a fraction of the time it would usually take. This project is why we chose to be a part of the automotive industry.”
He informed us that the creation process was simply two months, yet we suppose Toyota engineers and designers had been contemplating the notion for much longer, considering everything it took to effectively execute it.
Installation of the 3.4-liter bi-turbo V6 into the pick-up truck was quite a feat in addition to the other upgrades applied to the Tundra. Carrying out this task necessitated a huge amount of hard labour.
Huge transformations such as broadening the track by over 75 mm and reinforcing the frame at different points were just the beginning since a Tundra solidly attached axle with an electronic locking differential was installed and a multitude of components remade and rearranged underneath the bonnet. The suspension has mainly been customized and the concept car operates on air suspension, something Brown eagerly wants to incorporate in its production model. He particularly invoked the usage of air suspension for the front axle which looks like a profitable step further from preventing nose scrapes while also delivering additional advantages.
It has been widely noticed that the first edition of X-Runner was outfitted with a manual device while this rendition is bestowed with the ten-speed auto akin to the Tundra. Brown conveyed to us that the 479 pound-feet and 421 horsepower from the motor is way too much for the recent edition’s smart manual transmission, which is likely the reason why the latter comes exclusively with less intense engine setup in manufacture Tacoma. This inevitability of cost cutting is somewhat disappointing; however, engineering a brand-new manual transmission uniquely for one precise item could be an expensive endeavour.
If the business sector can genuinely be convinced as the group behind it desires, this could undoubtedly be a truck inextinguishable from what we have seen over recent decades. Taking after trucks like the Ford SVT Lightning, GMC Syclone and Ram 1500 SRT-10, Toyota should definitely take a stab at this opportunity, as no one else will.
