smart move. there’s no need for them to be in this segment, particularly considering Ford and GM do a great job with it, and have for generations.

Interesting. I can see Nissan delaying/halting their plans due to development costs since their sales have been down. Toyota on the other hand has no reason (other than “image”) to do this. These are highly profitable vehicles and it’s not Toyota’s MO to just hand over market share.

Nissan is delaying because they probably will ‘hook up’ with a company with a program already in place…

/why buy a cow

@Kenny W,

Profitable companies remain profitable by going into markets where they likely to make money and staying out of markets where they are not. Toyota has made a determination that the heavy duty pickup truck market is not a moneymaker for it. This is easy to understand. As has already been stated, we currently have high fuel costs which severely limits the size of the potential market for these trucks. The other thing is that sales of heavy duty pickup trucks will come out of sales of regular duty fullsize pickup trucks rather than creating new markets. Potential customers are more likely to buy American out of general principles than the regular duty full-size pickup buyer. Toyota is anything but stupid. It faced the prospect of spending a boatload of money to develop a truck which would cannibalize its own full-size truck sales. Rest assured that Nissan is doing a similar market analysis and is reaching similar conclusions.

Toyota and Nissan would have to invest alot of money into developing an HD Turbo Diesel engine. They probably saw that people will still buy the US bred trucks because of better financing options and most likely we will never see HD Tundras/Titans.

@Richard,
Very valid points, I’m just not used to Toyota throwing in the towel because they think people will just continue to buy American. Toyota also has excess capacity at their new Texas plant as well as more land that they can expand if need be. I would be very interested in seeing their numbers used to reach a conclusion, alas that’ll never happen.

Perhaps someone knows more about this, but weren’t there rumors awhile ago about Toyota working with International and trying to procure some diesels from them?

The Domestics still rule this market. You just cannot compete with Ford/Dodge/GM on their turf. Go U.S.A. Go!

Toyota doesn’t have the loyal following on the job site as the Big 3. But for some reason, I would be willing to bet that Nissan will enter the segment before Toyota just because I think Nissan is a bit more “Ballsy” and willing to take the chance. And the Titan is a decent truck… after they worked the first year bugs out of it so if they continue to do their homework, who knows where they’ll be in the next decade?

Toyota will just continue to chip away at the 1/2 ton segment until they find it valid to enter the realm of HD dueallies and big torque monster diesels.

@Richard and Kenny
Consumers who truly need a HD truck don’t buy or even settle for a regular full size. One will wreak havoc on an overloaded truck. The frame, engine, transmission, cooling system, axles, brakes on an HD are considerably more equipped to handle the demand of towing and hauling loads over #3000 payload, #10000 towing and over #15000 GCWR. Granted, there are a few idiots out there who put the safety of themselves and everyone else on the road into jeopardy by trying to accomplish tasks with a regular truck that is considerably under rated to do the job. So, no, they are not the same buyer.
Yes, International was talking to Toyota (v-v), until Ford re-upped on their 6.4L Diesel project, which had been on hold because of the 6.0L fiasco.

Kenny W, they’re not handing over market share, they don’t have any in the HD truck line, and they would be smart to stay out, I agree with with 1c3d0g and chuckles Ford/GM/Dodge have it handled, and they have customer loyalty.

With the success that Toyota has had in vitrually every market they enter, I have no doubt that they could easily take a nice slice of the HD truck market should they choose to enter. Don’t confuse loyalty with lack of consumer choice.

No diesel = can’t compete.

Toyota has had misses. The T100, Previa minivan, Paseo two seater. I bet they are not sure they will have a hit in the 2007 Tundra, therefore, why base a HD truck in a product that might not catch on.
I think it’s a very smart move to wait and see.

It’ll probably be more profitable to keep building on the momentum selling 1/2 ton Tundras. The R&D to get into the 1 ton and up category may blow up in their faces if they try to sell a HD Tundra to a crowd who so blindly loyal to the big 3.

They’ll probably revisit it again when they get their sales up to Big 3 levels in a few years.

I’m glad they shelved the plans…

Can they compete with the domestics kings?!I mean can you beat the living crap out of the Japanese trucks the way people do with American trucks and carry on with your day without flinching?I don’t know.

Look at the above photo.It’s like two farm dogs who have had their ears chewed and tails bitten,and maybe a bite taken out of their sides,and yet they still show up for a couple of scraps of food cheerfully and without complaint at the supper table.Too funny!