Toyota Tundra caught tow testing

Here’s our first look at the first factory-backed right-hand drive Toyota Tundra which was spotted this week conducting tow testing west of Melbourne.

One of several hundred RHD prototypes now being converted for Toyota by the Walkinshaw Automotive Group at its Clayton facility, this one was towing a huge trailer load of concrete blocks imitating a large caravan or similar.

It was parked at the Mobil truck stop at Ballan, which is a good climb from Victoria’s capital and Walkinshaw’s home base, with black duct tape covering all of its badges.

First revealed in September 2021, the third-generation Toyota Tundra has been on Toyota Australia’s radar since long before that, but like two previous generations dating back to 1999 and its full-size American pick-up rivals, it won’t be produced in RHD ex-factory despite lobbying by Toyota Australia.

That’s why Toyota has now contracted Walkinshaw, which already does big business ‘remanufacturing’ RAMs for RAM Trucks Australia and Chevrolet Silverados for GM Specialty Vehicles, to engineer and produce 300 RHD Tundra vehicles for testing, market evaluation and potential sale, as part of a multi-million-dollar development program that could finally see the Tundra join the top-selling HiLux in local Toyota showrooms.

Toyota says the RHD Tundra’s officially-backed re-engineering program, which will leverage Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series components including the steering column, steering rack, pedals and shift lever, “faces further checkpoints in Toyota’s global approval process before its retail introduction can be confirmed”.

The latest Toyota Tundra and LandCruiser both share the same TNGA-F ladder-frame architecture and various other hardware, and Australia’s Tundra would be powered exclusively by a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 petrol hybrid ‘i-FORCE MAX’ powertrain, which matches the 4500kg towing capacity of its rivals and in the US produces class-leading 325kW/790Nm outputs.

The first RHD Tundras hit Aussie public roads in September and a 300-strong fleet will be dispatched around the country in the fourth quarter of next year as part of the final development stage.

Given this timeframe, if the RHD Tundra conversion program is approved and the model is confirmed for Australia – and we expect it will, given the quality of Walkinshaw’s work with RAM and Chevrolet, the investment already undertaken and the profits at stake here – don’t expect to see a Tundra in your local Toyota showroom before mid-2024.

That would put it 12 months or so behind the new Ford F-150, which will be locally-converted with Ford backing by Thai firm RMA and sold by Ford Australia dealers from mid-2023.