Chevy Colorado ZR2 Bison, COMING SOON!
- Thread starter orangeTJ
- Start date
And yet somehow other companies (GM, FCA, Ford) have found good, financial reasons to offer 4x4 accessories and heavily-modified offroad variants for their SUV and pickup lineup.
It makes business sense for other companies to cater the 4x4 market, but not Toyota?
That sums up Toyota NA fairly well IMO.
AlexCold
Observer
Yup, because they (GM,FCA, Ford) weren't being known as the off-road truck companies (obviously Jeep was). At least on the West coast you would ask someone which off road truck to get and they'd tell you go get a Tacoma. Again, I'm trying to rationalize it. I just believe that if they keep making simple improvements to their truck, Toyota will be fine, the aftermarket has the rest covered, so why spend money on it?
Same reason why I don't think they're in the electric market yet, why rush into building something new when the Prius sells fine based entirely on reputation? Instead save the development money and keep making the same product all the while actually making money on a hybrid vehicle.
Same reason why I don't think they're in the electric market yet, why rush into building something new when the Prius sells fine based entirely on reputation? Instead save the development money and keep making the same product all the while actually making money on a hybrid vehicle.
Clutch
<---Pass
Yep.
The Tacoma sells itself. Toyota is going to milk that platform for everything it is worth. Not unlike Ford with the E-Series Van, that thing was and still is virtually unchanged for what, 55+ years?
Read somewheres that Toyota is having record monthly sales with the Tacoma....and for the life of me I don't know why. (and I am long time Toyota owner going on 26+ years) I am simply unimpressed with the 3rd Gen Tacoma compared with what you can get elswhere for the same or even less money. Justin Bieber and the Kardashians are grossly popular too...and I don't quite understand that either.
I dunno...3rd Gen Tacoma owners are foaming at the mouth nutters. Nit pick their pride and joy and they loose bowel control....
Last edited:
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
From the 1960s to 1995 Toyota never catered to any of these wheeling groups. It was like pulling teeth just to get them at a corporate level to acknowledge the TLCA, much less actively support them like Jeep does with their enthusiast clubs. They were content to just make simple, solid, very boring 4WD trucks aimed at sportmen and hikers.
Despite this they developed a rabid following because mainly they were capable and relatively hard to break. When they introduced the TRD and e-locker it seems like the market saw it as a shot directly at Jeep and the FJ Cruiser didn't downplay this. The whole thing has developed a life of its own and Toyota NA seems happy to play along in the Big 3 "mind is bigger" nonsense.
I would like to say they are ticking off their traditional customer but sales figures don't flush with that. They sell tons of vehicles and surely it must be to repeat buyers for that to happen. It's just me who seem disinterested in all of it and unlikely to buy another, not the majority. But truth be told their cars aren't straying as far from the boring old formula so it's just a very small segment of traditional Toyota truck buyers I think.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Toyota historically has not churned their vehicles very fast. They sold the FJ40 unchanged for the most part for 25 years, the 70 series for even longer. The wagons tends to be 10ish year lifespans. Hilux is only in it's 8th generation since 1968 and a couple of those gens were pretty long (like the 5th from 1988 to 1997 and 7th from 2004 to 2015). It seems Toyota has tried to get their trucks on 10 year life cycles and staggered the Prado and Hilux so a new gen of one only coincides with a minor revision of the other.
Regardless if we argue endlessly that Toyota does or doesn't consider the Tacoma and 4Runner in their global line up or not they seem to have put them on the same 5/10 revision schedules as the true world trucks. None of them have exactly seen monumental changes since 2004ish and under the skin they are all almost the same in 2018 as they were then and even some of the lineage of the basics goes back to the 1980s. For example the W5x, R15x and A340 transmissions. Those were still being used in the 4 cylinder 3rd gen Tacoma, which had a R155 in it up until last year.
Last edited:
I am from the bottom half of Mississippi, so deeeeep South. We have every 4x4 imaginable, and I'd agree that Toyotas keep the best premium (with the exception of the Jeep CJ/YJ/TJ/JK).
Wallygator
Adventurer
I wish we had a choice for a truly small truck also...anyone remember when Mahindra tried to bring theirs here? The price point was around $20 grand from what I remember. Of course we couldn't allow that to happen 
since they probably would have sold like hot cakes and severely hurt sales from the manufacturers here. Just ridiculous.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/m...difficulty-of-launching-new-brands-in-the-u-s
since they probably would have sold like hot cakes and severely hurt sales from the manufacturers here. Just ridiculous.https://www.caranddriver.com/news/m...difficulty-of-launching-new-brands-in-the-u-s
More details: the bead lock wheels and 35inch MT tires of the show truck will be replaced with conventional rims and 31 inch AT tires. (You can add taller tires without making other changes.) The Bison package will be available in two door long bed and four door short bed trucks. The gas V6 and diesel 4 cylinder engines will be available with Bison. The ZR2’s suspension with fancy shocks remains unchanged in Bison models.
jacobconroy
Hillbilly of Leisure
Good point, and I had forgotten about the FJ. When I bought my Jeep in 2007 it was a close call between a Wrangler or an FJ. I thought the FJ was better looking, fairly new at the time, and hey....it was a reliable Toyota!
But, the top didn't come off. Deal breaker for me. If the FJ would have had a removable top, that would have been where my dollars went.
madcratebuilder
New member
My dealer told me that the Bison is going to be at least a 5K hit on top of the ZR2 price. You get front and rear bumpers, 4 more skid plates, different wheels and body trim.
I'm not liking the front bump, the rear looks better but need to see one in the flesh. The fuel tank skid is what I want. I already have a full set of Supermod skids.
I'm not liking the front bump, the rear looks better but need to see one in the flesh. The fuel tank skid is what I want. I already have a full set of Supermod skids.
David Trest
New member
From what I've seen, you can already buy the snorkel from AEV, so it wouldn't surprise me if you could buy most/all of it directly as an add-on for an existing vehicle.