This video is sponsored by AeroPress,
stick around for a 15% discount! Toyota has been secretly taking over
America, but I’m not talking about cars, I’m talking about TRUCKS They go hand in hand with hard work Tending the Land Whatever the heck this is Things that are undeniably, unashamedly —JAPANESE! Japanese brands account for over 60%
of the midsize truck market in the US And Toyota by themselves is 40% So, what’s the secret? how the
heck did a company known for THIS Who came out with THIS End up changing what it means to to own one of the
most American things in America, the Pickup Truck Well, the Secret had a little
something to do with winning races Toyota has been racing their cars since the 1950s, Crowns rallying in Australia Coronas circuit racing in Japan Even prototype cars
competing on the world stage But their trucks? Their trucks
weren’t exactly the best… After the war, in 1952, Toyota
had the SG Pickup Truck, And It was a pretty simple truck, ladder frame, drum brakes, and a 48hp 1.5L engine. Just enough truck to take
your rice and grain to market But in America, things were a bit different Big V8s Burly Inline 6s These were the engines of
choice for the American buyer, So, Toyota kept the SG to themselves, along
with the FA, the Land Cruiser, and the Stout But by the late 60s, the global
market for trucks was getting HUGE. In 1968 alone, Ford sold Half a
Million of their F-Series trucks And well, Toyota wasn’t going to sit
by and not get a piece of that pie They had the Land Cruiser, but
that was more Jeep than F-100 So, in 1968, they brought their first
dedicated pickup truck to the USA, The Hilux The thing was though, it wasn’t
really like most American trucks. In fact, underneath it was kinda not even a Toyota It was a Hino Briska, a light duty
truck made by the Toyota sub-brand Hino But regardless of what it may have
been under the skin, the reality was, it was going up against trucks like the
Ford F100, Chevy C-10, and Dodge D-100 And what big-block monster of an engine
did Toyota throw in the Hilux to compete? A 1.9L 4 cyl, making an earth-shaking 85hp. But here was the thing, the Hilux was tiny, It weighed 2300lbs compared to an F100s 4000lbs It was smaller in every dimension, more approachable and usable
than what the Americans offered And it really seemed like a new class
of truck that the American people wanted That is, If it wasn’t for the Chicken Tax. Yes you heard me right, the chicken tax. Without getting into too much detail,
the basics of the chicken tax were this: After WWII, America started
farming chickens like crazy They were pumping out so many
chickens that poultry went from a luxury item to a staple food across the planet. And well, farmers and politicians
in countries like Germany, France, and the Netherlands weren't too pleased with
Big Chicken in the US affecting prices overseas, So they decided to tax and
restrict chicken imports to Europe That is not the Chicken Tax though, The Chicken Tax was President LBJ
holding his middle finger up to Europe on one hand and throwing down
the Uno Reverse card with the other By imposing a 25% tax on all foreign potato
starch, dextrin, brandy, aaaand LIGHT TRUCKS. All the ingredients necessary for
a tailgate at the Pringles factory But also, all major exports coming out of Europe And, let's bring it all back here… The
tax that inadvertently made the Toyota Hilux basically way too expensive in the US. Toyota was basically stuck between
like a rock and a hard place, and for the first couple years of selling
the Hilux in the US, things didn’t look good. But then they had an idea… What if they took the bed off the truck, shipped both parts to the US, and
just bolted it back together there? A truck cab or bed by itself does not
a truck make, it's just parts! And it turns out, according to the law, Toyota was right! So in 1971, Toyota began exporting the Hilux in parts and assembling them
in Long Beach, California. And now with the price of a Toyota truck in the
US finally competitive with domestic options, the era of Japanese truck
dominance could finally begin, Just like how this sponsor
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your coffee game up a gear. Now, Japanese truck dominance
didn’t happen all at once Over the 70s and 80s, Toyota took small
steps in expanding its truck offerings The Hilux was updated, taking some tech
from the very successful Land Cruiser, In 1981 they developed the
Toyota Trekker with Winnebago, a car that would go on to become the 4Runner And by 1983, the Hilux had
its biggest redesign yet Fuel injected engines, even an option for a Turbo Independent front suspension, A solid 4WD system The Hilux, now called the Toyota Pickup,
was finally a real competitor in America But even still it wasn’t beating the big three So, Toyota decided to take their trucks where they
had been taking their cars for the last decade The race track In 1983, Toyota joined forces with a
company called PPI to go off-road racing They took the humble Toyota
Pickup and beefed it up to handle the intense conditions
of desert and stadium racing 3-stage torsion bars A lift with Bilstein shocks Chunky off road tires And at the wheel was none other
than Ivan “ironman” Stewart A man who spent the 70s winning
basically every race he entered. And in their inaugural season of the
Mickey Thompson Stadium Racing Series They won nearly every race to secure
the 1983 Manufacturers Championship, with Ivan Stewart taking
the Driver’s title as well. And then they did it again in 1984 And then in 85 Then 86, 87, 88 and on and on until 1994. 11 years, 11 manufacturer wins by Toyota. The Toyota pickup was the fastest truck in America And Toyota made sure the public knew about it Magazine articles, ad campaigns,
tons of race coverage. Hell in 1988 the truck got a 3.0L V6
loosely based off the race truck’s motor The street version made 150hp, not
quite the 500+ of the race truck, but for a small truck it certainly felt brisk Plus, they kept winning races too The Grand National Sports
Truck Championship in 1990 The Baja 500 in 91 and 92 And in 1993, the three crown jewels
of truck racing, the Nevada 500, Baja 500, and the legendary Baja 1000 By the mid-90s, Toyota’s racing domination made
the little pickup THE compact truck to have, And everyone who wanted one
had to have the Red, Orange, and Yellow Toyota motorsports decals so they
could share the glory with Ironman Stewart But, here’s the thing, at this point,
the Toyota Hilux platform was OLD, it was still the same simple
truck from the 70s, more or less And for the American market, one
of the few places in the world where people would daily drive their
truck, it was time for something new. And that something, was the Toyota Tacoma. The Tacoma was released in 1995, but
it started its development back in 1989 It was designed by the same guy who first
drew the Lexus SC and later, the MKV Supra And from an engineering
standpoint, the goal was simple, it was to have all of the durability and
practicality of the Hilux, but in a safer, more comfortable, and more livable package Plus, it would be totally built in America, at the NUMMI plant in California doubling down
on Toyota’s commitment to the American market The perfect daily-driver for truck-crazy
americans who were starting to develop a trust for Toyota reliability, and also
a taste for the Toyota racing kool-aid Speaking of which, the Tacoma
saw its first big race in the Championship Off-Road-Racing series in 1997 Johnny Greaves and Jeff Kincaid won
basically every single race in their Tacomas And Toyota would go on to win the Pro-Lite
championship for 7 years in a row. Here’s the thing though, winning races
is fine and dandy, but how does that actually translate to making the road cars better? Well, how about the introduction of the Toyota
Racing Development Supercharger Kit in 1997? Yes, that’s right, Toyota
offered a dealer installed supercharger system for your Toyota Tacoma. They offered it for all 3 of the Taco’s
engine options, but in the top 3.4L V6 trim, it bumped power from a measly 190
to 254hp and 270lbft of torque And if that wasn’t enough, Toyota also offered
a fuel system upgrade to boost it to 262hp. And because it was all Toyota parts, the fitment was flawless and just as
reliable as the motor it was bolted to. The very next year, they came out
with the TRD Off-Road package as well, adding locking diffs to the standard
fully boxed frame and Bilstein suspension It was a fantastic overall package, one that
saw sales growing consistently through the 90s But for the 2000 model year, sales of
the Tacoma took a little bit of a hit, and it was because of a
new competitor from… TOYOTA Yes Toyota stepped on the toes of their
own Tacoma, by releasing the Toyota Tundra This was new territory for
Toyota, a full size pickup truck, one that would really go head to head with
the best sellers from Ford, GM, and Dodge. It was a similar setup to the Tacoma, a fully boxed frame setup, with the same
3.4L V6, and optional supercharger But this was the big leagues now, they were going up against the F150 with its Triton V8, a
5.4L monster that made 260hp and 350lbft. That was a motor that could move
any hay bale your could throw at it, and the little Toyota V6 just wasn’t a match So, Toyota took to the drawing board
and developed their own V8 engine. They took the 4.0L V8 from the Lexus LS400, and re-engineered it to handle the
intense workload of towing and hauling. And what they ended up with was the 2UZ, a
4.7L V8 that made 245hp and 315lbft of torque. A big upgrade from even the supercharged V6 in the torque department, and a motor that much
better suited what Tundra buyers wanted. And want it, they did! Because the Toyota Tundra at launch had
Toyota’s highest EVER initial sales. People just couldn’t get enough of them,
Motor Trend even named it Truck of the year! And in the mad dash of buyers
cleaning out out their dealerships, most companies would have sat on
their behinds and raked in the cash. But you know what Toyota did? They went racing. The Tundra joined the Tacoma
in its motorsports dominance. They took it off road racing, they went to
NASCAR as the first ever Japanese manufacturer, And in the second year of Tundra production, they thought, heck let’s throw
a supercharger on the V8 too! Toyota had figured out the formula, “Win on
Sunday, Sell on Monday” was in full effect And throughout the 2000s, they didn’t slow down. 2006 saw their first big NASCAR win, 2009 they
won the Pro 4WD class in The Off Road Championship And by 2010, Toyota had firmly solidified
their place as “best of the rest” selling less trucks overall than the big
3, but far more than anyone else. And you would think that would mean that Toyota would be trying twice as hard
to catch up to the Americans But you see, Toyota sold less
trucks, especially Tundras, but they sold more vehicles
overall, than pretty much anyone. Toyota’s wide market reach throughout
the naughties meant that they were selling nearly half a million
more cars than GM in some years. Add to that the fact that the Ford Ranger and
GMC Canyon just didn’t have the daily-driver truck chops of the Tacoma, so the Taco
was the king of the midsize truck segment. And it also meant that Toyota got a bit complacent The Tacoma and Tundra basically
went unchanged for over a decade. Sure, the motors were updated, and a few
problem areas were fixed (rusting frames?), but for the most part, buying a Toyota truck
meant buying something you knew was reliable, but also felt like it was from Y2K. The same couldn’t be said for American brands like
Ford, who were regularly updating their trucks, and coming out with badass new
trims like the F-150 Raptor. The Raptor was the supercar of pickup trucks, with an optional 500hp 6.2L V8 and
long travel Fox Racing suspension. And while it might seem like a bit
of a yobbo car to the general public, for car and truck guys, this
thing was our newest obsession. Ford sold over 10,000 of them every year for
the first couple years, and used them as a halo car to get people into dealerships
to boost the base truck’s sales as well. And for Toyota, who was already far far
behind Ford, what the hell were all of the Baja 1000 wins, the off road championships,
the NASCAR upsets for if they couldn’t compete? So, in 2014, Toyota gave Ford a response, The TRD Pro This was a trim package available for the Tacoma, Tundra, and the 4Runner and
it was pretty serious stuff. TRD-tuned Bilstein shocks with remote reservoirs, a 2-inch lift, new beadlock-style aluminum wheels
and BFGoodrich off-road tires, plus a TRD exhaust All of which was race proven when Toyota entered
a basically-stock Tundra into the Baja 1000. It was everything you needed to get your
personal Tundra or Taco dirt and desert ready, Well, everything except for horsepower… While Ford was out giving their
buyers options for powerful V8s, Toyota was stuck with evolutions
of their same V6 and V8 motors. The 4.0L 1GR V6 in the top Tacomas
made 245hp, with no option for a TRD supercharger outside of one special edition
model (Ironman Stewart's Special Edition) And even though the Tundra’s top
V8 was now bored out to 5.7L, the 381hp it made paled in comparison
to what you could get from the Blue Oval Toyota’s attempt at a super truck was missing
a vital ingredient, and it honestly seemed like that motorsports magic carpet they had
been riding on was losing altitude fast. Plus with their trucks stuck looking
older and older every model year, sales were starting to
plateau, especially for Tundra. Toyota knew they needed a radical upgrade, and while it may have taken
another 7 years, it finally came. In 2022, The Toyota Tundra was
completely overhauled from top to bottom Gone was the old tried and true chassis, and in its place was the new Body
on Frame GA-F global platform. It was a lighter, more rigid, more modular platform on which they
could build any of their trucks and SUVs And under the hood was no longer an aging V8, but rather a modified version of the
twin-turbo 3.4L V6 found in the Lexus LS. A motor that put out 389hp and
479lbft of torque out the box, wayyy beefier than anything that came before it. And if you wanted a little more juice, you could have that too, but it wasn’t
dealer-installed tuner parts this time. The Tundra was now available with a
hybrid-flywheel electric motor. One that didn’t just help you sip less gas, but also
boosted output to 437hp and 583lbft of torque. 583 lbft of torque! A number that would put
hair on the chest of any truck enthusiast. And now, paired with the TRD Pro trims Fox
Racing shocks, aluminum skidplate, and locking differentials, you finally had something that
could go toe to toe with the best of America. But not just America either, because it was this
twin turbo V6 drivetrain inside of the the Toyota GR Hilux that propelled Toyota and Nasser
Al-Attiyah to a huge win at the 2022 Dakar Rally. A race that can only be described as
one of the most difficult on the planet. The Toyota Truck was officially back, baby! And sales of the Tundra
increased 25% from 2021 to 2022 This revamp was exactly what they needed, But now the waiting game had
started; what about the Tacoma? It took another year, but in May of 2023, Toyota
announced that the all new Tacoma was on its way And it would be getting the
full treatment of the Tundra. TNGA-F Platform with a high strength steel frame,
rear coil suspension, aluminum body panels, Aggressive styling that brings
the Taco firmly into the present, And now, no more geriatric NA V6. This time it was a 2.4L turbo inline 4, and before you say anything, it
made 278hp and 339lb-ft of torque. Way more torque than the old
V6 in a much smaller package. But, cmon, the Tundra got
its McLaren P1 treatment, surely the Taco deserves a
little something something And you’d be right! Just like the tundra,
a hybrid flywheel i-Force Max system will be available for the Taco, and it will be
capable of 326hp and 465lbft of torque. 465 LB FT OF TORQUE IN A TACOMA That's a number you can’t even beat with a
Porsche 911 until you get to the 911 Turbo. Toyota did exactly what they needed to,
they brought the specs into the modern day And as for how it drives? Well, we drove one, and it was pretty damn good. The new powertrain delivers, no more
asthmatic climb through the RPMs, the turbo 4 is torquey and
responsive from low down, And even the new 8-speed auto does a good job
of sending power to whichever wheels you select without much fuss, all while disappearing
into the background when you’re just cruising There’s still a manual transmission
too! And it's… a manual! It still feels like a truck! Long throws, light
clutch, lots of rev hang, and if it were my money, I’d just get the auto and leave the
manual for something without a bed. But the real highlight is that the Tacoma
is still a very capable off-roader. And you don’t even need to go to the TRD-Pro, The far cheaper TRD Off-Road Trim still has
an electronically controlled transfer case, LSD, and Remote-reservoir Bilstein shocks, A setup that easily trounced an,
admittedly basic, off road course, even with Zain granny shifting, not
double clutching like he should. The current-gen Tacoma currently
owns 47% of the midsize truck market. And now, with the new truck
having the capabilities it does, I have no doubt that number will continue to grow. And from where they started? With that
rinky dink Toyota Pickup in the 80s? It's a testament to Toyota
sticking to their philosophy. The philosophy of proving their products
in the most extreme of racing environments, The philosophy of listening to their customers,
even when the market still saw them as outsiders The philosophy of knowing when to double down, and
when to pull out all the stops and change course A philosophy that has led to Toyota
being the lone Japanese brand to not only take on the Americans on their
home turf, but to dominate as well. Thanks for watching.
