Toyota’s performance vehicle expansion is set to delve further into the off-road space, with US publications reporting – and spying – a new version of the Tundra pickup.
As reported by Car and Driver, Toyota has filed a trademark for the TRD Hammer name, expected to be used on an upcoming Tundra performance variant with off-road supremacy in mind.
While the Tundra and the smaller Tacoma are offered in TRD Pro guise – with the latter being a rival to the Ford Ranger Raptor – the former isn’t on the same level as the Ford F-150 Raptor and Ram 1500 TRX, or even the six-cylinder 1500 RHO.
That may soon be about to change, with the publication’s spy photographers snapping what could be the Tundra TRD Hammer on the road, wearing wider front and rear wheel-arches, steel bumpers and chunky all-terrain tyres.
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It also appears to feature a large panhard rod on the rear axle, as well as thicker lower control arms, plus an increased ride height, potentially hinting at long-travel suspension.
It’s not known whether the Tundra TRD Hammer would be able to match the F-150 Raptor R and Ram TRX for outright power though, as the most powerful engine in the pickup – a twin-turbo 3.4-litre V6 with an electric motor – makes 326kW and 790Nm combined.
By comparison, the 6.2-litre supercharged V8 in the TRX produces 579kW and 922Nm, the F-150 Raptor develops 336kW and 691Nm from its twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6, while the Raptor R makes 530kW and 868Nm from its 5.2-litre supercharged V8.
The launch of the Tundra TRD Hammer would leave General Motors as the last of the four big brands to go without a performance off-road pickup, as the Silverado ZR2 is considered to be on a level below the aforementioned Ford and Ram offerings.
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