Toyota has apparently seen the light and given up the idea of competing head on with the Detroit 3 for big truck supremacy. Toyota America president Jim Lentz told Automotive News that his company no longer plans to challenge for the top spot in the segment. With the market shrinking fast, Toyota's share has been dropping even faster. Tundra sales were down 60.7 percent in September compared to only a 3.9 percent drop at Chevrolet. Ford, which is preparing to launch the F-150 in the coming weeks saw sales of the old model drop 41.6 percent while Dodge Ram sales were 30.6 percent off. Toyota has already decided to consolidate full size truck production from two factories to one and Lentz also confirmed reports that the diesel engine for the Tundra that was announced last January has been shelved. With volumes down so much, adding another engine to the mix at this point doesn't make sense for Toyota.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

The Detroit-based automakers aren't the only ones making rapid and dramatic changes to future product plans. Mighty Toyota is shifting its future mix directly in response to the reality on the ground. At the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, the company unveiled a hybrid powered coupe concept called the FT-HS. This coupe was believed to presage a revival of the Supra sports car that went away in 2002. It now appears that the Supra will remain dead in spite of the possibility of hybrid drive. This might have something to do with the lukewarm response that most performance oriented hybrids have received in the marketplace along with the need to increase fleet fuel economy. The general economic malaise also plays against a new premium sports car.

An existing product that won't see a successor is the FJ Cruiser. The FJ is a niche product in a rapidly shrinking SUV segment and the similarly sized 4Runner has already been redesigned for 2010 so the FJ will bite the dust. In the big trucks production is being slashed and smaller, more efficient base engines get more emphasis than the big 5.7L V8. Instead of all of these formerly hot selling and high-profit vehicles, even more small cars like the new 5-door Yaris and the new 2010 Prius, will become the focus of Toyota's attention and production capacity.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Click above for hi-res gallery of the Ironman edition Toyota Tundra

Moving full-size pickup trucks has proven more difficult than ever before. The main issues seem to be a slumping economy and high fuel prices, so most manufacturers have decided to offer heavy incentives to make their heavy metal more affordable and figured out ways to eke more fuel efficiency from their behemoths. Toyota, though, has oddly decided to go a different route, adding even more power, along with an extra cost, for three of its most fuel-hungry vehicles: the full-size Tundra pickup, midsize Tacoma pickup and FJ Cruiser SUV. Launched under the Ironman moniker, the vehicles are meant to draw on the Japanese company's involvement with Ivan "Ironman" Stewart.

For up to an extra twenty grand, buyers can opt for various suspension goodies, which will invariably reduce fuel consumption by jacking the vehicle further off the ground, along with topping the engine with a supercharger. This power-booster increases power on the Tundra to an impressive 504 from the standard 381 and torque from 401 lb-ft to a heady 550. Each of the various pieces will also be available separately, in case the idea of single digit fuel mileage are less than intriguing to you.

[Source: Automotive News]

While Toyota is busy pouring cash into expanding battery production capacity for hybrid vehicles, they apparently haven't forgotten about the other end of their lineup. There remains the possibility that Toyota could add a heavy duty pickup to the Tundra lineup to compete with similar offerings from Ford, GM and Chrysler. Having noticed the popularity of diesel engines in those big trucks, Toyota is reportedly preparing a new 7.0L diesel V8 for the monster truck. If it comes to pass - perhaps as soon as 2011-12 - the big diesel would join a smaller unit in the light duty Tundra. That diesel announced at this years Detroit Auto Show is likely to be based on the 4.5L diesel that Toyota already offers in other markets in the Land Cruiser. Frankly, this seems like a bad time for Toyota to enter the heavy duty truck market. That segment is shrinking rapidly as the commercial buyers who are the main market for such trucks are being hit hard by the implosion of the real estate bubble and rising fuel prices. It seems unlikely that this truck and engine will ever come to market unless Toyota is really itching to stick it to the domestic manufacturers.

[Source: Inside Line, via Autoblog]

Last week, we told you that Isuzu and Toyota had announced that they were collaborating on a new small diesel engine. This week, they say that they are expanding that collaboration to also include new clean diesel exhaust technology. This agreement is between Hino Motors, Toyota's truck division, and Isuzu.

Although there have been some rumors that Toyota would like to get an Isuzu-designed diesel engine in their new full-size truck so that it can continue to compete in every market where its main rivals do, and these announcements sound like they could be baby steps towards that type of agreement, those rumors are just speculation. In the meantime, we can be satisfied that Hino Motors will be making their diesel exhaust as clean as they can.

Related:

• Toyota and Isuzu to collaborate on small diesel engines

[Source: Detriot News]

According to Rebecca Lindland, a market analyst for forecaster Global Insight Inc., "Detroit automakers need to diversify into cars because they can't rely on SUVs to prop up their balance sheets any longer. Toyota needs to reach out to pickup buyers in order to continue its expansion."

It was not difficult to see the truth to this statement while walking around the Detroit Auto Show with my wife. We looked at and and took pictures of the Chevy Volt, and minutes later were sitting in and talking about just how large the Toyota Tundra is. Speaking of which, it's huge! I looked at some figures - I think it is fractionally larger than the Detroit pickups in every single category, which seems to make it much larger all-around.

(I've got more opinions after the jump)

Toyota will not call its new Tundra a 2008 model, although the company certainly could take advantage of such marketing juice if it wanted. But with the tougher EPA mileage standards kicking in for that model year, the Tundra would have to be compared to Ford, Dodge, Chevy, GMC and Nissan fullsize trucks under the current system that is much more liberal. Basically the Tundra would have to report numbers 8 to 12 percent lower than a rating under 2007 standards. Toyota won't release the final fuel economy numbers until early January. This move is not a change in policy. Toyota has said from the beginning its next-generation fullsize truck would start out as a 2007 model. Production has already begun at a new plant in San Antonio, Texas but the vehicle won't hit dealers until February.

[Source: Sean M. Wood / San Antonio Express-News]