All Entries in the "TundraHeadquarters.com" Category

Toyota Tundras at 2009 SEMA Show

Toyota produced two special edition Tundras for the 2009 SEMA show last week. The first was the “Tailgater” – a fancy tribute to country music duo Brooks and Dunn that doubles as a tricked-out mobile BBQ platform. The second was a call-back to the hot rod days of the 50′s, a regular cab short box Tundra with a flame job, moon hub caps, and a 50′s era Toyota logo.

Toyota's custom Tundras shown during the 2009 SEMA show.

While they’re both cool, neither truck demonstrated a new concept or an attempt to establish the Tundra as a great canvas to work from. Still, there were a couple of neat ideas, and you have to give Toyota for trying in a down market:

Tundra Headquarters Now on Twitter AND Facebook

Here’s a quick update on our growth plan for our loyal readers. If you like the site, I would be grateful for any feedback or comments you have on these items, our plans, and what we can be doing better.

New Stuff

First, as you may or may not know, I’ve been posting on Twitter on behalf of TundraHeadquarters.com for a few months now.

Honda President Says Big Engines Are Dead. Seriously?

While Honda makes everything from power tools to robots to mini-jets, an argument could be made that Honda is an engine company. Every major product line features some sort of fossil-fuel powered motor, and their worldwide success would seem to suggest that Honda knows a thing or two about building a great engine.

Honda President Takanobu Ito doesn't understand American car culture.

However, when the President of Honda Motors, Takanobu Ito, says that the era of big powerful engines is dead, his understanding of the US auto market should be called into question. Here’s the exact quote:

10 Most Outrageous Truck Quality Problems Of The Last Decade

All of the recent and damning evidence uncovered in the first-gen Tundra frame rust investigation has been discouraging. How could Toyota and the frame supplier Dana underestimated the potential for rust so profoundly? Why has Toyota let this issue go so far? Clearly, a critical error in quality has been made. Toyota’s image will depend on how they take care of the problem.

However, no matter what you may think about the Toyota Tundra frame rust issue (we think it stinks), this problem is fairly comparable to problems that other truck manufacturers have had in the last decade.

Here’s are the 10 most outrageous truck quality issues of the last 10 years:

10 Features and Improvements Needed On the Next Generation Tundra

Toyota typically redesigns their vehicles on a 5 year cycle, meaning that the next generation Tundra is due out in just a couple of years. We’ve been told that a diesel Tundra isn’t on the to-do list anytime before 2012 (not until the truck market “recovers” – whatever that means), and that hybrid and HD Tundras still seem to be a few years off (think 2015).

Toyota should copy the Ram Box feature on the next-generation Tundra.

However, there are going to be some enhancements in the next-gen truck. We don’t know what all of those enhancements will be, but here are some suggestions for features and changes that Toyota should include in the next-gen Tundra (feel free to comment to add to the list).