Following a trial of 300 vehicles leased to hand-picked customers, Toyota Australia has been given the go-ahead by Japan for a full-scale local launch of the Tundra pick-up this year.
Toyota has confirmed it will launch its large Tundra ute in Australia to the wider public later this year, following a successful trial started in 2023.
The Tundra pick-up will go on sale locally in November, first with the Limited grade only before a more premium – but as yet undefined – variant offering “full-size, upscale comfort” following in 2025.
The market-leading car maker revealed the plans to media as part of its dealer conference on the Gold Coast happening this week.
“I am pleased to announce that Tundra is go,” Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia’s Vice President for Sales and Marketing, told media including Drive.
“Our parent company has given Toyota Australia official approval to launch Tundra to retail customers in Australia. As a result, Tundra Limited will go on sale from mid-November this year and that will be of course a momentous day for Toyota, not just in Australia, but also for our US affiliate, our parent company, and of course our local partner, the Walkinshaw Automotive Group.”
The Tundra Insider Program kicked off in late November 2023 for initial deliveries, with all examples with customers by April 2024. Of the 300 vehicles involved in the trial, 280 were leased to customers, with 20 for internal use within Toyota Australia.
Those involved were hand-picked by Toyota Australia and its dealers from a pool of existing Toyota customers, and those experienced with towing.
The US-built Tundras will be remanufactured from left- to right-hand drive in Melbourne by former Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) engineering firm Walkinshaw Automotive Group – as was the case with the trial vehicles.
Walkinshaw also applies a similar process to Ram Trucks and Chevrolet Silverado models sold locally. It is due to open a new facility in Melbourne in December 2025, but Ryan Walkinshaw, Walkinshaw Group CEO, could not yet confirm whether Tundra would be remanufactured at the new or old site.
According to Mr Hanley, it has taken six years for the project to come to fruition, with Walkinshaw involved in the process for the last three.
“The go-ahead for this program is the culmination of an extensive development project that as some of you may know, has taken six years,” he said. “It confirms that right-hand drive Tundra meets Toyota’s global standards for quality, durability and reliability. And these are the same standards that apply to vehicles produced 100 per cent in the Toyota ecosystem.”
The arrival of the Tundra for public sale will mark the first time anywhere in the world that Toyota has taken one of its vehicles made outside of Japan, exported it to a third country and then re-engineered it with a local partner with final assembly taking place in a non-Toyota factory – with the end product still being a 100 per cent Toyota-branded vehicle.
“This vehicle sets a new benchmark for re-engineering a full-size pick-up truck. Indeed any vehicle from left-hand drive to right-hand drive,” he said.
“What is clear, therefore, is that the new Tundra is far more than a simple right-hand drive conversion. We’ve also validated its performance and quality by placing hundreds of vehicles with customers who have put Tundra through its paces and indeed provided their feedback.”
The Tundra trialled in Australia and due to arrive shortly comes in hybrid form, combining a 3.5-litre six-cylinder twin-turbo petrol engine making 290kW/650Nm with a 36kW/250Nm electric motor-generator – and a nickel metal hydride battery – for total system outputs of 326kW and 790Nm.
Power is sent to all four wheels through a 10-speed torque converter automatic transmission, and its braked towing capacity is rated at 4500kg.
It also uses original equipment parts from other Toyota vehicles, such as the LandCruiser 300 Series and Lexus LX.
“We are now running Toyota minimum quality standards on our engineering and production lines,” added Ryan Walkinshaw.
“A program for us for some of our other customers would be around two years to do the development for that before you actually ended up getting to start a production – it took over three years with Toyota and the investment that’s gone into it, the attention to detail and the education process of how Toyota does things is very, very different. And it’s been an incredible learning experience for our business. I think the quality of the product is what will show that.”
This Toyota Tundra announcement comes as sales of other American-converted full-size picks-ups have slowed in recent months, with the exception of the Ford F-150.
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