RHD Toyota Tundra customer evaluation begins

Toyota Australia has announced that deliveries of its Tundra evaluation vehicles have now begun with all 300 examples expected to be in customer hands by April (2024).

It is part of a “real-world evaluation and validation program” aimed at determining the potential for full-time import and right-hand drive conversion of the Tundra full-size pickup.

The news comes almost two years after this publication reported on the company’s decision to import the Tundra locally, Toyota Australia telling GoAuto at the time that it had “no plans to introduce the Tundra locally”, despite recognising competition in the segment was growing.

In August of 2022, GoAuto obtained government approval documents suggesting Toyota Australia had imported petrol-electric hybrid versions of the Tundra for local evaluation – the same program officially revealed by the importer almost 12 months later at an unrelated media event.

Fast forward to December and the Toyota Australia ‘Tundra Insider Program’ now sees the first of 300 examples of the model ready to be delivered to potential customers on a full-service lease basis.

The “real-world evaluation and validation program” aims to evaluate the model’s business case Down Under, with selected customers “reporting back regularly to Toyota on their experience”.

Customers selected to be part of the evaluation are provided a vehicle on a full-service lease administered through Toyota Finance Australia. A monthly payment of $2500 covers all servicing and maintenance, mechanical repairs, replacement tyres and roadside assist.

Insurance and registration are also covered by the monthly lease payments.

“We know there is a demand for full-size pickups like the Tundra, but we wanted to ensure that the local right-hand drive conversion and the vehicle as a whole met Toyota’s exacting standards for quality and the needs of our customers,” said Toyota Australia vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations Sean Hanley.

“That’s why we are putting this vehicle through such a rigorous and demanding evaluation program. Our engineers have been working on this project since 2019 and now, together with our partners at Walkinshaw Automotive Group, it’s great to see vehicles being delivered to our customers.

“Toyota has never undertaken a project like this before and we look forward to hearing what these first customers think and feel about the new Toyota Tundra.”

Melbourne-based Walkinshaw Automotive Group is tasked with converting the 300 US-built Tundra vehicles, each featuring “several new or modified components”.

These include the steering rack, instrument panel, firewall, headlights, wiring harnesses, front seats, carpet, and trim, many of which are sourced from the related LandCruiser 300 Series.

Powered by a hybridised version of Toyota’s VA-series 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol engine, the ICE portion of the which develops 290kW of power at 5200rpm and peak torque of 650Nm from 2400-3600rpm.

Electric assistance of 36kW and 250Nm is contributed by a transmission-mounted motor/generator and 6.5Ah nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) battery, contributing to an overall output of 326kW and 790Nm.

The engine drives through a 10-speed automatic transmission with part-time all-wheel drive, a two-speed transfer case, and automatic limited slip differential.

Riding on a ladder-frame chassis and suspended by a double wishbone front and multi-link rear arrangement, the Tundra offers a maximum braked towing capacity of 4500kg. Payload capacity is rated at just 758kg. The model tips the scales at 2778kg.

The Tundra’s steering is electrically assisted while braking duties fall to 354mm rotors and four-piston calipers up front and 335mm rotors and a single-piston caliper at the rear.

Inside the Limited grade Tundra – the only grade currently in Australia – is seating for five, synthetic leather upholstery, a 60:40 split-fold rear bench, and heating, ventilation and eight-way power adjustment for the front seats.

The steering wheel and shift lever and leather-accented while instrumentation is handled by a 12.3-inch digital array with central speedometer and analogue-style tachometer.

Further convenience features include dual-zone climate control, power windows, wireless device charging pad, five USB ports and adaptive cruise control. Infotainment comes courtesy of a 14.0-inch touchscreen hosting Bluetooth, wireless Apple CarPlay, wired Android Auto, AM/FM/DAB+ radio and 12-speaker JBL sound.

Driver assistance and safety technologies from the Toyota Safety Sense range include autonomous emergency braking with (day/night) pedestrian and (day only) cyclist detection, lane departure alert, lane trace assist, emergency steering assist, and auto high beam.