Ford Motor Company has captured headlines in recent years for their ongoing enhancements to the Ford brand vehicle lineup, making their vehicles more off-road capable and launching models specifically designed with trail riding and rock crawling in mind.
While there’s plenty of Bronco and Ford trucks history and modern day reality to keep that image going for generations to come, Toyota Motor Corporation is tapping at the door, demanding to be let back into the club they never really left.
That tapping comes in the form of a host of new vehicle debuts that made the calendar for 2023 for the Lexus and Toyota brands: Toyota Tacoma, Lexus GX and Toyota Land Cruiser. Those models join the already robust offerings including the Toyota Tundra, Toyota Sequoia and Lexus LX, all of which have been recently redesigned and come to market as new-generation vehicles.
“Ford, Jeep, and Chevrolet have all stepped their game up in recent years when it comes to serious off-road products, from the Wrangler 4xe and Bronco to the Silverado ZR2, but Toyota’s also retained its credibility as a serious player in the adventure space,” Robby DeGraff, product and consumer insights analyst at AutoPacific told Newsweek.
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“Flock to any public lands space or trailhead and you’re bound to find Tacomas, 4Runners, Land Cruisers, and even the older FJ Cruiser outfitted with gear for adventures beyond the pavement, whether that be hardcore rock crawling or overloading off the grid. Toyota has and will always be a top player in the off-road space. That’s been so engrained in the brand’s DNA for decades and it’s becoming more and more apparent with this crop of redesigned vehicles.”
The fourth-generation Toyota Tacoma comes at a time when the mid-size truck market is undergoing a renaissance. Not only are the trucks popular, but the Tacoma’s key competitors have recently revealed new generations as well. The next-generation Chevrolet Colorado, Nissan Frontier and GMC Canyon are on sale now. Ford’s new Ranger comes to market in the U.S. later this year.
“Building on the recent Tundra and Sequoia launches, the all-new Tacoma will take Toyota’s off-road truck lineup to another level by introducing the first-ever Trailhunter grade. Our engineers in Michigan listened to customer feedback and designed Trailhunter from the ground up with integrated components from some of the top brands in the industry like ARB, Old Man Emu, and RIGID to give overlanding enthusiasts an adventure-ready truck right from the dealer,” Joseph Moses, general manager of Toyota vehicle marketing and communications told Newsweek.
“Trailhunter represents Toyota’s commitment to the overlanding community, but it also allowed us to focus the halo TRD Pro model on an even higher level of Baja-inspired off-road performance with segment-first features like the IsoDynamic Performance Seat.”
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The new Lexus GX is designed to be a sophisticated utility vehicle. Like the Tacoma, the GX gets off-road centric components and engineering. There’s also two new grades, Overtrail and Overtrail+.
These trim levels were designed as part of a new Lexus initiative that seeks to “inspire customers around the world to explore nature through refined adventures”, a mission they amounted at the Toyota Outdoor Show.
The models have rugged styling and deliberate materials and color choices that are linked to nature. GX Overtrail and Overtrail+ are more capable than the typical GX, with standard 18-inch wheels shoed with 33-inch All-Terrain tires, black-accented overfenders and an aluminum skid plate.
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Electronics enhance capabilities, with drive modes, crawl control, hill descent control, a three-dimensional terrain monitoring system, an electronic-kinetic dynamic suspension system and locking rear differential coming standard.
Next up for Toyota is the debut of the new North American take on the Land Cruiser. Already sold in next-generation form overseas, the company is planning to reveal the model August 1.
Work continues at Toyota on the fifth-generation 4Runner. The fourth-generation model, which is on sale today, debuted in 2009 and has steadily gained an enthusiastic customer base despite what many reviewers see as an outdated frame and transmission, and lack of modern safety and driver assistance technology.
While most of the new car market was down in 2021, 4Runner sales hit an all-time high with 144,696 new SUVs purchased.
