Truck Outlook Gloomy, Tied to Housing Market

Pickup trucks are the lifeblood of the auto industry, contributing an estimated $5,000 to $15,000 to automakers’ coffers for each one sold.

But trucks are in need of a transfusion, and the outlook isn't very bright this year or next.

People staying put in their home — fearful of moving up in a dismal market — might have money to spend on a new car. But those who build homes can't afford to buy new trucks when there are no homes being built. 

General Motors has a 150-day supply of unsold Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups in stock, more than twice the normal 60-day supply. Dodge has a 120-day supply of unsold Rams, while Ford is at 91 days of F-Series pickups.

Full-Size Trucks Get Full-Size Discounts

Trucks like the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra often hover near the top of Cars.com's Top 10 incentives list, thanks to reasonable prices and large cash-back bonuses. This month, though, the Silverado and Sierra are joined by a host of other trucks offering thousands of dollars in customer cash back.

Toyota is offering region-specific discounts on its popular Tundra model, and we've seen as much as $4,000 cash back on the 2007 Tundra and $1,500 on its 2008 brethren. (Search for Toyota's offers in your area here by entering your zip code under "Find Local Specials.") Nissan has joined the party, too, with up to $4,500 back — plus a $500 holiday bonus available until Dec. 3 — on the 2008 Titan. Mitsubishi's offering $4,500 cash back on the 2007 Raider; Dodge is offering $4,500 on the 2008 Ram; Ford is giving up to $2,500 on the 2007 Ranger, up to $4,500 on the 2007 F-150 and $2,000 on the 2008 F-150 and, well, you get the picture. If you're in the market for a truck, now is the time to seize that long-awaited discount. Who says you never get anything for Christmas?

Check out Cars.com's full list of incentives here.

Toyota Adds 13 New Trims for 2008 Tundra

Covering trucks is a headache because there are so many cab and bed configurations on top of the standard trims, like Touring or Sport, that you see on cars and SUVs. That makes the 13 additional trims for the 2008 Tundra a bit dizzying. The reason Toyota is adding so many new offerings is to make the Tundra available at a lower price, thereby expanding its market share.

To that end, there’s a new “Tundra Grade” in double cab and CrewMax versions of the truck. These Tundra Grade trucks slot below the SR5 models. You can get a regular cab Tundra Grade 4x2 with the standard V-6 engine and five-speed automatic for $22,290, which is the same price as the 2007 model. The Double Cab Tundra Grade will start at $24,715 with the same equipment, and the CrewMax will start at $27,685 in Tundra Grade with a V-8 engine and five-speed automatic. 

The 2008 Tundras will arrive at dealerships later this month. We’ll have full pricing on all the trim levels on Cars.com shortly.

New Toyota Tundra Running Into Engine Failures

In some of the first 2007 Toyota Tundra pickups that rolled off the assembly line, optional V-8 engines are failing due to faulty camshafts. The company says the problem should only impact a limited number of the redesigned full-size pickups, but hasn’t yet figured out what that number is. The company sold 37,000 of the new Tundras with the powerful 5.7-liter V-8 in its first three months on the market.

The company is replacing the entire engine of any truck affected by the problem, which stems from a part built by an outside supplier. So far, 20 trucks have reported the engine failures, and Toyota is actively tracking down the vehicles at risk. When we get more information about the investigation, we’ll post it here.

Toyota Fixing Engine Failures in New Tundra truck (USAToday)

Related
2007 Toyota Tundra Expert Review (Cars.com)
Cars.comparison: Full-Size Trucks (Cars.com)
Toyota Tundra Gets Top Frontal Crash Test Rating (KickingTires)
Revisiting the 2007 Toyota Tundra (KickingTires)
Toyota Offering $1,500 Rebate on All-New Tundra (KickingTires)
More Toyota Tundra News (KickingTires)

Toyota Tundra Gets Top Frontal Crash Test Rating

Last month, we were a bit stunned when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the all-new Toyota Tundra a four-star crash test rating, instead of the highest 5-star rating. The testing procedures by the NHTSA are almost always more forgiving than the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which uses more extreme crash tests in their evaluations.

Today, we learn that the IIHS rated the new Tundra good, the group’s highest score, in frontal crash tests. Both a two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive Double Cab Tundra were tested.

Also receiving a good frontal crash test rating was the newly redesigned 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer.

Related
Tundra Four-Star Safety Rating Not a Good Thing (KickingTires)
2007 Toyota Tundra Expert Review (Cars.com)
Cars.comparison: Full-Size Trucks (Cars.com)
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Expert Review (Cars.com)

Revisiting the 2007 Toyota Tundra

Not too long ago, we had the Ford F-150 and new Chevy Silverado take on Toyota’s new full-size Tundra pickup in a Faceoff. The Tundra won, but I’ll admit I had some reservations giving it a complete nod because we tested a larger Crew Max version, and the contenders weren’t perfectly equal.

After driving the Tundra Double Cab (not the larger Crew Max) with the top-of-the-line 5.7-liter V-8 engine, I can now say I’d again go with the Tundra as the winner. Why? Mainly, because the thing is fast — really fast. Zero-to-60-in-6.3-seconds fast. Sure, you’ve probably heard the numbers before, but in real-life driving and merging at highway speeds, the Tundra is actually accelerating with gusto, where the other two trucks just adequately get you there. In that way the Tundra is a fun truck. I never thought I’d say that either, with something this big whose primary function is towing.

Tundra Four-Star Safety Rating Not a Good Thing

Most readers might see a vehicle score a four-star safety rating and think it’s a good thing — it is the second-highest rating you can get. That’s not the case this morning, as word of the Toyota Tundra full-size pickup’s NHTSA crash tests come rolling in. Both the regular and crew cab Tundra earned four-star crash-test scores for frontal impacts.

Every other full-size pickup, including the new Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra, Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram, earned five-stars in the same tests. The Nissan Titan received five stars for driver safety but four for passenger safety.

This is not good news for Toyota, especially with so much talk about NHTSA handing out five-star grades too liberally. The organization is actually in the process of overhauling its procedures to make tests more stringent. The question is, will the seemingly still-satisfactory safety scores deter truck buyers from considering the Tundra?

Source: NHTSA via Autoblog

Related:
Government to Push For Tougher Safety Ratings
Cars.comparison: Full-Size Trucks

Toyota Offering $1,500 Rebate on All-New Tundra

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Toyota dealers are offering as much as $1,500 cash back on the base model of the all-new Tundra full-size pickup throughout the month. Before “the sky is falling” comments start flooding in, let us say that the base model, single-cab truck is not the most popular Tundra. Dealers have reported the more-expensive double cabs are selling well. Toyota representatives did tell the Journal that the company is concerned it may miss its initial sales goal of 200,000 for the Tundra this year.

The fine print: Toyota dealers in the Southeast — Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina — are offering the full $1,500 cash back. Other regional stores are offering anywhere from $250 - $1,000.

[Toyota Dealers Offer Discount On Newly Redesigned Tundra, Wall Street Journal]

Cars.com Reviews the All-New 2007 Toyota Tundra

We’ve covered its new commercials and pitted it against the reigning kings of the full-size truck crowd, but now the all-new 2007 Toyota Tundra gets its much deserved moment in the spotlight in Joe Wiesenfelder’s just-posted review. After besting both the new Chevy Silverado and Ford F-150 in our recent Cars.com Faceoff, there was little doubt the Tundra was worth a look for truck shoppers. Now, there’s plenty more information and photos of the new Toyota.

2007 Toyota Tundra Review

How They Made Those Toyota Tundra Super Bowl Ads

Yesterday, we posted a recap of the car commercials that aired during the Super Bowl. Overall they were pretty boring, with the best ones, promoting the Toyota Tundra, seemingly faked. We didn’t even notice the “actual demonstration” disclaimer at the beginning of each one. Come on, you didn’t think they were really going to drive straight off a cliff and trust the brakes, right? Well, umm … it looks like that’s just what they did.

On a company website, Toyota talks up the “actual demonstration” part of the ads and you can view both commercials in their entirety. There’s also a “making of” video for the seesaw ad which we thought would lead to the trailer flipping over. After seeing the “making of” video, you can guess the speed of the descent a lot more than you could in the finished commercial, which made everything seem a little faster. OK, one down.