took the family to the america"s fair today (previously know as the erie county fair-south of buffalo,ny) it is the second largest fair in the country after san diego's, i believe. toyota development (what the sign said) was there with ten tundra's (all with california plates). they had a dyno sent up with a tundra on it, along with a chevy and ford right next to it. they had a dirt course set up (about the size of a football field) letting people take turns driving tundra's, whether towing, climbing dirt hill's,berm's,etc. they where letting people drive these trucks hard!!! got talking with one of the head honcho's and i asked about a heavy duty tundra with a diesel engine. he reassured me in 2009, there will be a heavy duty version with a cat diesel engine!!. i told him i read about that, then i read that toyota canceled the idea in the short term about a diesel option too. he said it is coming- that there will be a diesel tundra next year at the "big auto" shows for previewing. they were also taking a two page survey from guys who where willing to sit there for 30 minutes or so-what they wanted, needed or did not need in a heavy duty diesel pick up truck. looks like there might be a heavy duty tundra with a diesel engine option right around the corner!!!

 

Ive heard the same...except that it`s not going to be a CAT, it will likely be an internally sourced (Hino???) engine. This BTW came from some big wig `Yota dealer meeting.....who knows, it changes hourly at the dealer level, I have heard CAT, Cummins (yeah...riiiight), and Hino. Time will tell I guess.

 

Does this mean we will have a real competitor from over the seas? I wish they would keep it among the american trucks.....

Jon

 

While i can see where you are coming from dieselJon, i think some international competition will be good. Itll make the big 3 here step up. A toyota with a Cat will be hard to contend with.

 

But seeing a tundra twist the frame cause it can't handle the tq

Jon

 

haha, yea that sounds good too

 

Got that right, you wouldn't want those pesky Japanese engineers messin' up those sweet American vehicles. Remember the good 'ole days when you could get 8mpg, buy a diesel Oldsmobile, a 6.2 Chevy, AMC Pacer or even a Ford Pinto. Sure they didn't run very well or last very long and the Pinto tended to explode when hit but hey it was American made.

Honestly who doesn't want one of these fine engineering marvels?


You don't honestly believe companies make their products better because they want to. The fear of being outdone by some other company is what drives them to improve. "competition is the life of the trade, death of the trader".

 

In my opinion, Toyota will never have a caterpillar diesel in their pickup trucks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are all the Toyota plants in the United States non-union? I'm pretty sure all of Cat's production and testing are unionized. Being fron Illinois I know this first hand.

I could be wrong about all that. After all, Cat and Toyota are already together in NASCAR? But I cant see an engine with such union background going into that truck. There may be more to it than that, time will tell I guess.

 

I believe a toy already has a cat in it on the test grounds I didn't see it first had but was told by a very reliable source.

 

I sure wish they do. I love Toyota. Cummins would be fine too.

 

I live pretty close to one of Toyota’s R&D facilities and ran into one of the techs at Peet’s coffee. So, I asked him when Toyota was going to release a Tundra in a diesel? He said hopefully by 2009. They were still testing the CAT, Toyota’s in-house diesel, and one other brand. He did say it wasn’t looking good for the CAT because of the weight. Take it with a grain of salt, who knows.

Jacob

 

Usually when Toyota is refering to the CAT, it's not a CAT motor like we think of it. They are refering to D-CAT (Diesel-Clean Air Technology). I looked it up on their website. Man was I disappointed.

 

I'll take a Hino powered Toyota anyday...

 

I heard the Caterpillar rumor as well from a source that sells equipment to the plant in Texas.
My truck before this one was a Toyota and the quality was superior to the Dodge. It wouldn't tow so I traded for the Dodge which has been a good truck.

 

I keep getting the " Caterpillar has no plans at this time to enter into the light duty on-highway truck market!" Sure is alot of rumor about it though... But I think that its just because the Caterpillar #22 car is now a 'yota.... Which I thought I would NEVER see!!!!..