Toyota's Attempt to Dethrone Pickup Kings

Toyota Motor Corp. has gone a long way and it is determined to make the most out of every segment in the American auto market. This time around, it attempts to conquer the full-size truck market.

As perceived by auto analysts, Ford, GM and Dodge have already established loyalties among its customers. In fact, they account for more that 90 percent of the entire full-size truck sales in the United States. "This is not the car market of the 1970s and '80s, where the domestic automakers failed to match Toyota in terms of quality, said Bob Lutz, head of GM's global product development."The Detroit brands have the upper hand in full-size trucks."

Lutz further added, "All the people who bought American full-size pickup trucks, regardless of manufacturer, or full-size sport-utilities are deliriously happy with their products."The American truck owner -- Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, GMC, it doesn't matter -- is intensely loyal and enormously satisfied with the truck."

Full-size truck market is far different from many industries. Ford, GM and Dodge have loyal customer base. So far this year, 672,700 units of world's best-selling F-series trucks from Ford were sold. GM comes next with 539,300 sales of Chevy Silverado. Dodge Ram, landed on the third place with 303,500 sales. Ford F-Series pickup parts seem to be never waning. Chevrolet, on the other hand, is holding on tight to its standing. Consequently, Dodge truck parts are refined to do better.

Toyota started its production of new Tundra last week. Said vehicle uses improved Toyota Tundra high performance parts to boost its capabilities.

The new Tundra, which is made in San Antonio, will go on sale this February. According to Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief of Edmunds.com, Tundra is the most significant vehicle of the year. "Toyota's first true full-size truck, the 2007 Tundra is a signal that Toyota is ready to compete head-on with the domestic automakers."

"I'm not saying that it's a matter of fact that the Japanese will take over the domestic truck market," Brauer noted. "But I am saying that history has suggested that when they want to take over a market, they've been pretty effective at it."

"Toyota will have a tough time taking customers away from Ford, GM and Dodge," said Joe Phillippi, a principal with AutoTrends Consulting in Short Hills, N.J. "The competition has a tremendous reputation. They have strong loyalty among working-truck buyers. That's a tough thing to crack."