No Toyota trucks

Thread from 2008:

Just read in the paper that Toyota will stop production of trucks and SUV's and build the Prius in the US..

The big stuff (Tundra and Sequioa) is being suspended. It looks like Tundra will still continue in reduced numbers at the San Antonia plant. The Tacoma and Highlander are still in (reduced) production. The cool thing: Toyota is not releasing any permanent employees as a result of this change. They are dismissing temps, though.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/toyota-ramps-up-prius-stalls/story.aspx?guid=%7BC704E8EA-C857-46F8-BE9B-A6E8AACD49EB%7D

I wonder how Nissan is going to handle Titan and Armada production changes. EDIT: looks like they already ended production in April.

Nissan is also building the new Suzuki pick up.

RIP Hilux.

Ahhh..... the world is changing into a better place...

...I am really starting to like these high gas prices...

...well, not really, but at least there are good points to them.

Of course, I suspect (as noted other places) that those damn Prius's are causing more overall environmental impact then the trucks, but I would rather have to drive on the road with the Prius's than the trucks.

Call me when a Prius can tow a horse trailer.

Call me when driving one person to work and back in a Highlander makes any sense!

aircooled wrote: Call **me** when driving one person to work and back in a Highlander makes any sense!

it makes sense if you have one vehicle to do multiple jobs and ONE of those jobs is commuting.

Because it costs more to own multiple cars, in places where you can even PARK multiple cars.

BTW, as I mentioned before, even at $4/gallon prices, the other week when I had to use the Range Rover to commute to work in due to needing to do some work on the BMW, it only cost me $16 to commute for the entire week. And if someone saw me commuting by myself in it they woudl be mistaken to think that that's ALL that I ever use the truck for. But that's EXACTLY what you are doing.

My point was that eliminating trucks from the market is a disservice to the buyers that actually USE the things. Just because some people don't doesn't mean NOBODY does.

Anyone who drives a car but could potentially bicycle or walk needs to shut their hole about what other people drive. By my logic using their own definitions, any driving is evil, what you drive is just a level.

MrJoshua wrote: Anyone who drives a car but could potentially bicycle or walk needs to shut their hole about what other people drive. By my logic using their own definitions, any driving is evil, what you drive is just a level.

Ditto. There are plenty of good reasons to have trucks, SUVs, etc. and just like some people say they need a car (a bicycle won't do!) some people need a truck. Toyota isn't stopping production to save the world, they're doing it because they have a bunch laying around and they're not selling for crap because of gas prices. Toyota is in business to make profit and that's not where the profit is. A while back there was a big stink in the media about how GM was irresponsibly making gas guzzlers and the Hummer was constantly being used as an example. Now, GM is looking to shed Hummer for the same reasons Toyota is ramping down truck production. GM also has released hybrid trucks/SUVs for those that require those vehicles but still want to reduce their fuel consumption. Of course, very few media folks bothered to mention that the GM trucks/SUVs typically got better mileage than Toyota's comparable products, that many people require trucks for jobs that cars just can't do, and that Toyota was selling tons of gas guzzling SUVs to bolster their profit margin as well. How about rather than stop making trucks, Toyota (or anybody) starts making a SMALL truck again, one that gets fuel economy like a car and can haul a reasonable amount of stuff around. I'm excited about the G8 sport truck...it's a step in the right direction IMO, but a bit more car than truck. Ideally I'd like something like the old (think 80s) small pickups.

Bryce

My 92 Truck with the 22RE and 5 speed and only 230K miles got 30 MPG if I kept it to 70 or under on the highway until the timing chain chewed through the case. My 86 with a Megasquirted 22R and a 4 speed gets about 25-26. I've thought about putting the 5 speed in the 86, but it's kinda tired. It had a hard life before I bought the Truck for $300.

The latest generation Tacomas are really pretty big trucks by comparison. But then a new Corolla is about the size as an old Camry.

My experience has been that most people that claim to need a truck use it as a truck only once or twice a year. Those people would be better served driving something else and renting a truck as they needed it. They'd certainly come out ahead money-wise.

Of course there are those that really do need a truck, and I would imagine that given that there is still a market, they'll still be available in some form. I have a good friend that bought a new Titan about a year ago. He had to have a truck, a big one, and raved about how good of gas mileage it got, 17. Now a year later, he's moaning about how poor it gets and how much it costs to drive it. My how quickly opinions change. Most of the time, its just him in it, not the family, not towing, not hauling, just him. Now it does drive pretty well for a truck, and its very nice inside, but for $30k plus, there's a lot of other cars I would have rather owned.

Of course getting into the debate about who needs what is a no-win situation, and fortunately there aren't those telling us what to buy, at least not yet. Once again the market dictates what manufactures will build, since they pretty much build what the majority of the public will buy.

Chris_V wrote: ...My point was that eliminating trucks from the market is a disservice to the buyers that actually USE the things. Just because some people don't doesn't mean NOBODY does...

Hey, I'm not trying to tell people what to drive, I'm just happy that there will be fewer machines on the road that are designed with little regard to the vehicles they might hit. Because of the current economics is doesn't make any sense for most people to buy them (keeping a current one may be practical though). I highly doubt that towing / hauling capable truck will disappear from the market, there will just be fewer of them.

Certainly there are people who need a truck, for someone who currently is looking for one it is great, they are much more affordable. I would think the people who really need/like trucks would appreciate the change, they will stop designing them like Lincoln Town Cars and actual make them for what they are good at. (e.g. having a utility type truck with cloth or leather seats seems pretty ridiculous to me)

I suspect in the future, those who have use for a truck (especially in the near future) will buy a (now) cheap used one, and only use it when it is absolutely necessary. Better for me, better for the air, better for energy use, better for parking, and better for everyone else on the road.

I am also guessing there are a lot of truck / SUV owners out there who are really happy they went with a lease (never thought of the current scenario as a good reason to lease).

Once the market gets settled down, there will be trucks but they may be very different than the behemoths that we have today.

I suspect, living in what is a support town for both the oil industry and ranches, that I get a different view of what trucks do. Around here, they're almost all white, diesel-powered and full of stuff. Work trucks. There's always going to be a need for work trucks. Not a lot of leather and wood in those, though.

New Tacomas are actually pretty economical on the road. Much better than my old 3.0 1989 Toyota pickup was, with more power and more capability to boot. Here at altitude, a 22RE can't do any serious work. That thing's not going away, it's a good answer to most people's questions.

aircooled wrote:

Chris_V wrote: ...My point was that eliminating trucks from the market is a disservice to the buyers that actually USE the things. Just because some people don't doesn't mean NOBODY does...

Hey, I'm not trying to tell people what to drive, I'm just happy that there will be fewer machines on the road that are designed with little regard to the vehicles they might hit.

I'm getting kind of tired of the "i might get hit by one" argument. It's scare tactics and hyperbole. MOST (and by a really huge margin) never hit anybody. You MIGHT get hit by a semi drivn by a tired driver, you MIGHT get hit by a 40 foot Class A motorhome driven by an 80 year old retiree. You MIGHT get hit by a large SUV. You MIGHT get hit by a city bus driver, or a delivery cube van being driven by a non-licensed illegal immigrant being paid under the table. You MIGHT be run off the road by a teenage girl texting in her mom's Volvo. You MIGHT get hit by the young dude driving is poorly modded Civic at 100 mph in a residential area. You MIGHT just get tired and hit a bridge abutment yourself, or get distracted by the cute girl in the sundress on the sidewalk and hit an number of large things that would have been perfectly safe had you not hit them.

I've simply never been that scared driving around, even in my tiny little old Fiat Spider or my aircooled Bugs, and those could have been squashed by an Accord.

There are a million different things to watch out for when driving a small car, but it has nothing to do with whether those things are designed to hit a small car or be hit BY a small car safely. And so long as you are paying attention to them it doens't matter HOW they are designed. My '95 range Rover is 13 years old, and in all those years and 130k miles, it's never hit anyone, so how it's designed (or accessorized, with a huge ARB front bumper/winchmount and pushbars) has no bearing on YOUR safety.

When you're driving around in a 1966 Cadillac with bad paint, you can really see people thinking "what if I get hit by that?". Nobody EVER cuts you off.

The only car I'd worry about is Ted Kennady's Olds.

I'm getting kind of tired of the "i might get hit by one" argument.

A lot depends on where you drive. My commute has me drive by about 3-4 wrecks a week, I watch about one a month happen, and I get rammed or sideswiped about once every other year. Welcome to the westside of Baltimore, it's a glorious commute.

Now I don't know about you, but under those driving conditions, I just don't like a tin-can or a scoot. So yea, I chose to drive a vehicle that was built a bit like a tank.

And as one of those wacko's that loves his wife and kid, I made sure she had a car that was safe as well.

Safety may be reprehensible to you. So be it. You can't come and play on the track either. They have some safety requirements there as well. But hey, some of us actually make a thoughtfull decision and choice.

The ironic thing is that you're probably safer in a well-designed "tin can" than in a crudely designed truck. And since the easiest accident to survive is the one you're not in, something that can stop and turn is safer than something that can't.

foxtrapper wrote: I'm getting kind of tired of the "i might get hit by one" argument. A lot depends on where you drive. My commute has me drive by about 3-4 wrecks a week, I watch about one a month happen, and I get rammed or sideswiped about once every other year. Welcome to the westside of Baltimore, it's a glorious commute. Now I don't know about you, but under those driving conditions, I just don't like a tin-can or a scoot. So yea, I chose to drive a vehicle that was built a bit like a tank. And as one of those wacko's that loves his wife and kid, I made sure she had a car that was safe as well. Safety may be reprehensible to you. So be it. You can't come and play on the track either. They have some safety requirements there as well. But hey, some of us actually make a thoughtfull decision and choice.

I live on the east side of Baltimore, and drive all over this region. I still haven't had a problem with getting hit. Why? I actually, you know PAY ATTENTION to what goes on around me. So I'm not scared of what OTHER PEOPLE DRIVE. How hard is this to comprehend?

I'm responding to people that hate what OTHER people drive because they are SCARED of what OTHER PEOPLE DRIVE. But, only ONE TYPE OF VEHICLE that other people drive. And that's STUPID because of all the OTHER things that can "hurt you" out there.

Yeah, I've seen "other people" in accidents over the last 40 odd years. I've seen Baltimore city buses run over other cars. But there's no outcry about that, ONLY SUVS. And that's BS.

And maybe you should actually teach your wife to drive and pay attention, and then she'd be as safe as MY wife, who ALSO has seen her share of accidents to other people in her 40 odd years (including the 13 years she drove ambulance). Then neither of you would worry about what kind of vehicle OTHER PEOPLE DRIVE.

Safety isn't reprehensible to me. Worrying and bitching about the kinds of vehicle OTHER PEOPLE DRIVE is not berkleying "safety," fox. it's just being retarded. And THAT'S what's reprehensible. Figure it out.

Jensenman wrote: ...They are dismissing temps, though....

I heard recently that Toyota wasnt a good place to work, partly because most of the workforce is kept as temps or part-time workers.

Just sayin...

Dr. Hess wrote: The latest generation Tacomas are really pretty big trucks by comparison. But then a new Corolla is about the size as an old Camry.

Truth. The Yaris is about the size a Corolla should be, but with that idiot center dash and a steering wheel that rides my thighs, it will never grace my driveway. At least the new ('09) Corolla is rated at 35 highway, which is about what my old ('00) one gets overall.

foxtrapper wrote: Welcome to the westside of Baltimore, it's a glorious commute.

Yes, but. . . .

I just love excessive speed on the (near ferfect) Liberty Road clover leaf after midnight. OK, so it's the NW side of the Bawlmer, but it's still a lot of fun.

Jack

Chris_V wrote: I live on the east side of Baltimore, and drive all over this region.

East is NOT west Chris. Do try to pay attention. Driving the east side of Baltimore is a cake walk. Used to do it for years. There's barely any traffic over on that side.