Thanks to new EPA mileage standards, Tundra isn't in a hurry for 2008 designation
Toyota will not call its new Tundra a 2008 model, although the company certainly could take advantage of such marketing juice if it wanted. But with the tougher EPA mileage standards kicking in for that model year, the Tundra would have to be compared to Ford, Dodge, Chevy, GMC and Nissan fullsize trucks under the current system that is much more liberal. Basically the Tundra would have to report numbers 8 to 12 percent lower than a rating under 2007 standards. Toyota won't release the final fuel economy numbers until early January. This move is not a change in policy. Toyota has said from the beginning its next-generation fullsize truck would start out as a 2007 model. Production has already begun at a new plant in San Antonio, Texas but the vehicle won't hit dealers until February.
[Source: Sean M. Wood / San Antonio Express-News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MikeW 2:26PM (12/22/2006)
2006.5 Kia Optima
2007.5 Toyota Tundra
Reply
Lithous 3:34PM (12/22/2006)
Original article states... "But if the Tundra were a 2008, its Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy estimate would be 8 percent to 12 percent lower than its competitors because of the EPA's new formula."
Hold the phone. This is in a realm where its competitors are mostly American or former American companies so we *know* with the same (current) computing method that Toyota has at least 20% better fuel economy than them and we are to believe even with the disadvantage of the new method that Toyota will be worse (and not just the same or better than the competition)? How is that possible? Their commercials state that their trucks (at least they state that all their SUVs) get just shy* of 20MPG and we all know the American trucks get like 8MPG (ask any autoblog commenter). So either this new method is unbelievably, dramatically different or maybe the perception is incorrect. Gee, I wonder which it is?
*- I love how "just shy of 20mpg" to Toyota in their commercials is 16 or 17mpg. If an American car gets 30MPG and a Japanese one gets 34MPG then it is such a huge difference. According to Toyota one is just shy of the other, well, when convenient for them.
Maybe the Japanese companies aren't so "customer first" as we've been brainwashed, I mean told. Honda extended the warranty on their transmission fiasco (instead of replacing everybody's potentially bad transmission with a brand new re-engineered one immediately) and now Toyota is wimping out on being the first to subject themselves to (fuel economy) reality.
Reply
B 2:09AM (12/24/2006)
This is similar to when Toyota and Honda had to decrease the horsepower ratings on most its cars by 10-15% about a year ago. They were using there own standards to calculate horsepower, but now there is a set industry standard.
Reply
joe cross 7:04AM (1/15/2007)
The Toyota Tundra,Seqouia,and Land Cruiser are Honda's Ridgeline,and Pilot are proof that these companies put profit before environmental concerns.These vehicles could be diesel or turbo fours without a huge penalty in performance. As Americans wake up to the affects of global warming companies that have led the way in efficiency will be lauded.That said Honda certainly has the jump on Toyota in this regard. Toyota Tundras are not an efficient alternative to big three offerings. In fact the Tundra trails some full size domestic offerings in fuel efficiency. Now that cleaner diesel is coming to America Toyota will have an advantage because of their experience globally with diesel trucks. They could have more of a jump on Honda if they had the foresight Mercedes and V.W. had in this regard.
Reply