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Automotive Industry

2007 Toyota Tundra: big

Automotive Design & Production, Feb, 2007 by Gary S. Vasilash

Who says they don't understand "full-size truck"?

Amazing?

Did you ever see a local morning news broadcast in L.A. when rain is falling or predicted? It's like the world is going to come to an end before the next commercial. This is similar to some of the "winter survival" warnings that occur in Detroit, where it is known to snow. Yet it is announced as though this is something completely unexpected and a huge challenge, despite the fact that things like snow happen with predictability and while the conditions are challenging, they are not necessarily insurmountable, the "weather teams" reporting from hither and yon notwithstanding.

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This same sort of franticness seems to be associated with the 2007 Toyota Tundra pickup truck, at least in Detroit. Batten down the hatches. Toyota is taking a serious run at the full-size truck market!

Let's review:

It rains.

It snows.

Toyota is building a full-sized pickup.

Some things just happen.

The Geography of Big

Yes, it is true. The '07 Tundra is a big truck. The sort of "Detroit iron" that one associates with, well, Detroit. This probably explains why, in part, the upper body was developed and engineered by Toyota Technical Center ... in Ann Arbor, due west of Detroit. That's right, a bunch of folks who live, eat, and breathe the same way/things as their brethren who work at the companies renown for their full-size pickups. They were also responsible for central control of the development there in southeastern Michigan.

And, yes, there was styling done by Calty Design Research--in Newport Beach, California, and Ann Arbor--by people who have spent years and years and years looking at and driving trucks. Per usual for Toyota vehicle development programs, there were styling proposals sought from three sources. In this case, Calty, Toyota Motor Corp.--Design (Japan) and Hino Motor (see p. 38). What is unusual is that for the first time ever in the history of Toyota, a decision about the styling was not made in Japan. Rather, the models were displayed at Calty and the decision regarding the design direction was made based on that.

The chief engineer for the Tundra is Yuichiro Obu. He is not a native of Michigan, nor of California. Yet he has a thorough-going familiarity with things American. The Tundra is his third North American development project. The first was for the original Camry Solara, introduced in 1998 as a '99 model. This was followed by the present generation--the seventh--Tacoma pickup, introduced in '05. He observes: "I am certain that staging the viewing at Calty influenced the decision greatly."

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But there was something more to the design of the Tundra besides just the styling of a big vehicle. While cross-functional development is thought to be a matter of course at Toyota, Obu explains that for the development of the Tundra, "For the first time ever, manufacturing teams from both Texas and Indiana were required to work with designers at Calty studios prior to design sign-off to ensure that what was drawn could be manufactured."

The Geography of Big, II

The first generation Tundra, which was introduced in June 1999 (it succeeded the T-100 pickup), was produced at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana (TMMI), a plant that was built for the production of the Tundra. TMMI was modeled on the award-winning Toyota Tahara Plant. In subsequent years the Sequoia SUV and Sienna minivan were added to the TMMI lineup.

But to gain more capacity for full-size pickup production, a decision was made to build a new factory. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas (TMMTX) was established. Ground breaking at a site near San Antonio--2,000 acres, a former cattle ranch--occurred in October, 2003. They built not only an $850-million 2.2-million ft2 facility to stamp, weld, paint, mold, and assemble trucks, but also 1.8-million ft2 of additional facilities for on-site suppliers.

How's It Look?

Senior creative designer, Craig Kember, Calty: "We saw this as a big opportunity to design a truly 'bad-ass' truck with capability to match for the American full-size truck buyer."

Pretty much sums it up.

Minding the Gaps

So there were the production people and the designers. The production people talked about reducing the panel gap size. Fit and finish are key differentiators, so tight gaps are perceived to be better, they figured. The designers had a slightly different point of view. They figured that because they were developing a big truck, the bigness required slightly wider gaps, not narrower gaps. The conclusion? Bigger gaps--repeatably produced.

They Obviously Know Something About Trucks

Although decried for, in effect, "not understanding trucks," if the midsize truck market is taken into account then the fact that the Toyota Tacoma has a dominant position there (total 2006 sales: 178,351), up against the likes of the Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon (2006 sales: 93,876/23,979), Ford Ranger (2006 sales: 92,420), and Dodge Dakota (2006 sales: 76,098), so clearly they've learned a little something about the product. And on the subject of trucks and truck development, Hino Motor Ltd., which has been producing heavy- and medium-duty trucks commercially since 1946, and which happens to be a Toyota affiliate (Toyota owns 50.1% of Hino Motor), assisted in the development of the '07 Tundra. It also participated in chassis development for the Land Cruiser and Sequoia.

Automotive Industry

2007 Toyota Tundra: big

Automotive Design & Production, Feb, 2007 by Gary S. Vasilash

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