Ford and Hyundai recently introduced new compact pickup trucks in the US with the arrival of the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz. For years small trucks were absent in America, as buyers chose bigger midsize pickups. With the sales success of both models, there’s a strong case for other automakers to jump in on the compact pickup truck segment.
It’s been reported that Ram is readying a small pickup for America and now it looks like Toyota has also been thinking about it too. The Toyota Tacoma dominates the midsize pickup truck segment, but it does see room in its lineup for a smaller truck.
Toyota Motor North America Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations Jack Hollis recently revealed to Automotive News that “there is space” in the Toyota lineup, but “The question is, how to fill it?” He also stated that Toyota has “continued to look” at the compact truck segment “and we’ve continued to look for a long time.”
“It’s undeniable that those products have a place in the market. And how big is that segment going to get? I don’t know, but it’s something that we need to be looking at and figuring out if it’s an area we should play in,” stated Cooper Ericksen, group vice president for product planning and strategy at Toyota Motor North America.
