It’s Tuesday, April 4. That means it’s Taco Tuesday, and Toyota has debuted the all new 2024 Tacoma pickup truck, as expected. Except, they didn’t.
The next-generation Toyota Tacoma has yet to be fully revealed, as it turns out the teaser last week was just a teaser for another teaser. That said, today’s official photo provides us with some interesting information regarding the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro trim; it’ll have a hybrid powertrain. The new Tacoma TRD Pro’s main adversaries: the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2, GMC Canyon AT4X, and Ford Ranger Raptor, all opt for a more cost-effective, non-hybrid powertrain thus far.
New 2024 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Hybrid Teaser: Details
The tail of the Tacoma in the teaser has a badge that says “i-Force MAX,” the name for the Toyota Tundra’s twin-turbo hybrid V6. That’s a full-size truck engine in a midsizer. Yes, GM is already doing that with the new Colorado and Canyon, but not quite like this.
Incorporating the same Tundra hybrid V6 would make the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro the leader in the powerhouse department, as the hybrid engine found in the Tundra produces 437 horsepower and 583 lb-ft of torque. Far and away, that would be the segment leader for power.
However, it could also simply be a branding exercise. It could just as well be a hybrid four-cylinder turbo powertrain, which seems more in line with the segment. It would also indicate class-leading fuel economy. Either way, TTV6 or no, the sales king of the midsize truck hill is not overlooking the hungry contenders seeking to dethrone the mighty Taco.
Besides the engine, we get a pretty clear shot of the rear, which looks very similar to that of the Tundra, down to the pseudo-spoiler design of the tailgate with its bed liner wrapping up over the top. To put it another way, it looks exactly like the leaked Brazilian Patent Office images shown in this article. It’s also hard to miss the huge “TRD Pro” logo stamped into the tailgate, which means the off-road-ready trim will be shown alongside the rest of the line-up rather than introduced later.
Toyota noted that the model year for the new Tacoma is 2024, which means we should see it soon and on sale by the end of the year, if not early next year.
