The Toyota Tundra is Toyota's direct assault on the American auto industry's most profitable market segment: full-size, half-ton pickup trucks. It came to market in 1999 as a 2000 model following the half-hearted T100 near-full-size pickup that the company sold between 1993 and '98. But while the T100 was built in Japan, the Toyota Tundra has only been built in the United States.
The first Toyota Tundra was designed with America in mind, and Americans want V8 engines in their trucks. So the new Tundra became the first Toyota pickup truck to offer a V8 engine in North America. There were two cabs offered initially, a regular cab and a stretched "Access Cab" that included a pair of rear-hinged rear doors. Though the first Tundra was larger than the T100, the Tundra was still slightly smaller than the domestic competition and criticized by many as such. Even after a truly large "Double Cab" full crew cab model was introduced during the 2004 model year, the Toyota Tundra was still subject to criticism for being too carlike.
As well built as the original Toyota Tundra was, Toyota decided that to truly take on the domestic brands, the second Tundra couldn't be anything except gigantic. So the all-new 2007 Tundra that went into production at a new assembly plant in San Antonio was actually larger than the competition, and exaggerated that size with a huge grille and big rig styling cues. And it was available with three different cab designs — regular, Double Cab and super-stretched "Crew Max." Doubling down on vastness, the second Toyota Tundra also offered the biggest and most powerful V8 engine in Toyota's history.
Domestic brand pickup truck buyers are loyalists, so Toyota has had a hard time recruiting them as Toyota Tundra buyers. However, the Tundra has found a loyal following among previous owners of smaller Toyota pickups who now need something larger and more capable. You know the rugged small pickups that earned Toyota its mountainous reputation for being reliable and stalwart? That's a tradition the Toyota Tundra can build upon.
