[scottfraser]

Originally Posted by Diego

As far as I know they are planning a totally new redesign of the new Tundra or whatever they are going to call it and it is said to be larger and much beefier to handle the extra towing capacity. The whole truck is supposed to be bigger than the current Tundra. I don't think they were just planning to beef up the frame a little in the regular Tundra and call it a new heavy duty model but I guess we will find out when it comes out. Kind of curious what the HP and torque fugures will be as well as the gas mileage.

The question is does Toyota think there is a big enough market at this point in time for a large 1 ton pickup. I think that will decide wheather they jump in with both feet. If they think the market is softening up , I think we will see somehting like the new f150, which is more/less the same as the old f150 but dressed up to look like a bigger tougher truck. If they think the market is truly strong, then we will see a true heavy duty work truck from the bottom up. Toyota have been making medium/heavy duty work trucks forever in other markets, they certainly have the experience. The other thing which must concern them is the price. Toyota typically can demand a premium for there trucks, I will assume that a lot of the F250/F350 type trucks are leased by contractors, especially in the fall when the last year stock is dumped. It might be hard to justify $5-10k for a toyota over a 36-48 month lease.