#PickupTrucks

It’s the week to write about truck teasers, it seems. Perhaps tired of Toyota getting all the digital ink about shadowy references to future product, Ram dropped a post on Instagram suggesting they also have something up their sleeve.

After what seems like a lifetime of being strung along, Toyota has finally dropped a firm date on which they will introduce the new Tacoma. And, true to form, they also published some photos from which we can parse some detail.

As is the wont of most brands, Chevrolet has decided to wring every single ounce of goodwill from a popular trim. Having first shown up on the midsize Colorado about five years ago, the ZR2 name quickly migrated to the Silverado half-ton and is now being applied to the mighty Silverado HD.

And it’s heavy. Real heavy.

It seems every manufacturer with a pickup truck in their quiver is busying themselves creating numerous off-road variants; trims like Trail Boss, ZR2, Desert Boss, Tremor, Raptor, and Power Wagon are cropping up faster than auto journalists at the buffet. 

Determined not to be left behind, Toyota dropped (yet another) teaser of the 2024 Tacoma – this time with a new Trailhunter trim targeted directly at overlanders.

Awesome alliteration aside, this is the best (official) look we’ve seen so far of the upcoming Toyota Tacoma. Thanks to the brand’s glacier-like design cycle, it’ll be the first new Tacoma is ages – and all signs point to a hybrid powertrain under the hood.

Continuing the saga of hiccups with what is arguably Ford’s most important product in decades, Blue Oval suits are pulling the trigger on prolonging production downtime for one extra week in the wake of a battery fire earlier this year.

With a headline like that, one might think today’s date was closer to 2003, not 2023. Nevertheless, it seems The General has decided to idle its Indiana truck plant for a couple of weeks this spring in order to “help the company maintain optimal inventory levels.”

What’s next? Zero percent financing and cash on the hood?

Axios, the news source for people who like bullet points, has a post out today examining how the pickup truck market has changed over the years, with an emphasis on the shift in consumer preferences from smaller trucks to big, honkin' full-size rigs.

Do you remember when suits at Ford breathlessly announced their all-electric F-150 Lightning was priced at a sliver under $40,000? Pepperidge Farms remembers – and TTAC does, too. Hot on the heels of a price increase two months ago, the least expensive Lightning now stickers for an alarming $53,749.

Since roughly the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of manufacturing in Detroit), pickup truck makers have enjoyed beating each other over the head in a perpetual game of one-upmanship. Torque, towing, interior appointments – it’s rare for any stone to be left unturned when one brand decides to move the goalposts.

After the Bowtie Brigade showed off a refreshed Silverado HD last night in Michigan, you just knew the Blue Oval Brutes would clap back in short order with a new take on their Super Duty workhorse. Ed. note: Arguably, Chevy crashed Ford's party. Though this story was assigned to Mr. Guy, yours truly saw an embargoed briefing held by Ford the day after the Detroit Auto Show. So perhaps Chevrolet caught wind and decided to be an interloper.

With the Chevrolet Colorado being revealed a couple of weeks ago, you knew it wouldn’t be long before the crew at GMC rolled out their variation on a similar theme. Re-upping for 2023 in the once-again competitive midsize truck segment, the Canyon will apparently be focusing on its high-level (and high profit) trims.

It’s not unusual for an automaker to begin mining a successful sub-brand for every shred of credibility it has managed to accrue. Witness the rapid expansion of the Denali line at GMC, for example. Across town, Ford has seen the Tremor trim on its pickup trucks secure a decent take rate in this wonky market, so they’ve decided to hurl it at the little Maverick as well.

Don’t let anyone tell you that, even on the eve of mass electrification, we’re not living in the golden age of horsepower. After the loons at Ram launched their psychotic TRX, off-road gearheads knew the Blue Oval would be feverishly working on a direct rival – if they weren’t already.

Introducing the 2023 Raptor R – a V8-powered off-road pickup truck with a GT500 engine shoved up its nose. ‘Murica, indeed.

The crew at GMC has decided to launch yet another off-road special of its Sierra 1500 pickup truck, continuing GM’s collaboration with aftermarket outfit American Expedition Vehicles. The AT4X AEV is a hotted-up AT4X, which is itself a hotted-up AT4.

This brings up a question – is GM slicing its off-road pie into vanishingly small segments?

Bent on turning its Raptor trim into a wide-reaching line of off-road-ready rigs, Ford will be applying the name to not just its F-150 but also upcoming variants of the Bronco and Ranger. While this isn’t new information – after all, Jim Farley himself tweeted about the Ranger Raptor earlier this year and the Bronco Raptor is currently being driven in California – it is neat to learn the truck has shown up on the company’s build-and-price tool Down Under.