Toyota Big Rig Delivers on Its Nickname

2004 Toyota Tundra Double Cab

CHICAGO — More functionality, more style, more comfort and convenience, and more roominess is what pickup truck owners want, in the words of Don Esmond, Toyota senior vice president and general manager. And that’s what Toyota will deliver, as became evident from the Tundra on steroids that was introduced to the media in Chicago on Wednesday.

The automaker unveiled its new Tundra Double Cab full-size pickup truck at the opening press conference of the 2003 Chicago Auto Show media preview. The Tundra Big Rig, as Esmond called it, is significantly larger than the current Tundra regular and Access Cab configurations. It will be built exclusively at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana (TMMI) in Princeton. This follows Toyota’s recent announcement that it will build a new manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas, which will have an initial capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year.

On the outside, the new Tundra Double Cab has the big, brawny appearance of a workhorse truck. Its overall length has increased by 13 inches to 230.1 inches. The Big Rig has added more than a foot to the regular cab’s wheelbase, 3 inches to its rear-track and overall width, and an additional 3 inches of overall height. An additional 4 inches have been added to the bed depth, too.

Toyota proudly compares the new truck’s larger dimensions to those of competitive products, with which the automaker hopes to retain and increase the Tundra’s successful U.S. sales record.

Little has been changed in the fascia and other exterior design elements — it’s simply a longer, wider and taller Toyota Tundra. Inside, the Tundra Double Cab offers near-luxury comfort and convenience. This is most evident with the rear seats: They are large, split, fold-and-tumble seats that offer a full 24 degrees of seatback angle.

The new Tundra boasts the segment’s first vertical power-sliding full-rear window, similar to the one on the Japanese automaker’s full-size Sequoia sport utility vehicle. Combined with fully retractable power windows in all four doors and an optional power sliding moonroof, the Tundra Double Cab improves the passengers’ feeling of space and roominess.

The 2004 Toyota Tundra Double Cab arrives in showrooms this fall. At this time, Toyota has not released any pricing information.

While Toyota places great emphasis on size, comfort and functionality, little or nothing was said about any drivetrain, accessories or safety improvements and innovations. This leaves us to speculate that those will be carried over from existing Tundra versions currently in production.

However, it will definitely be a different drivetrain that will go into the Toyota Tundra NASCAR Racing Truck, which was introduced alongside the Double Cab. The automaker officially announced that it will make its racing debut at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at the Daytona International Speedway in February 2004.

The NASCAR Tundra will also be assembled at the Princeton, Ind., plant, while the V-8 engine will be designed, developed and built to NASCAR specifications by Toyota Racing Development USA, in Costa Mesa, Calif.

I wonder if that truck is gonna have the 5.5 liter V8