Toyota has just revealed its cutting-edge, all-new pickup truck that’s not just as rugged and efficient as conventional pickup trucks but also fueled by clean energy, thanks to the fact that it’s most likely going to be an all-electric pickup truck. We are talking about the Toyota Tacoma 2024.
The Toyota Tacoma is not new to the pickup truck market. It has in fact been the longest-running pickup truck in the class of midsize trucks in the United States and has remained the best-selling midsize pickup truck in 2022 after selling over 237,000 units. However, even though the Toyota Tacoma tops the list of best-selling pickup trucks in the midsize truck category, it has its shortcomings, which the leading automaker is well aware of.
And so it goes without saying that with all the heat in the EV pickup truck market fueled by rival companies and their challenging rollouts lately, Toyota just has to up its game if the automaker is to remain top in the game.
Now, redesigning already existing models is not a new strategy in Toyota’s market-leading game plan, and this becomes pretty obvious when we consider the example of the redesigned Toyota Tundra, which has already been met with lots of love. And so a redesigned Tacoma making it into the market where it already dominates would most likely be nothing short of an astounding success story. So what exactly does Toyota have planned for the Tacoma 2024?
Welcome to today’s article, where we’ll be sharing every bit of information we have about the new Toyota Tacoma that’s still in the works. The Toyota Tacoma has been around since as far back as 1995 when the first generation of Toyota Tacoma got introduced into the market as compact pickup trucks designed to meet the needs of typical American and Canadian users who were more about city life than offroading adventures.
Subsequent generations of the Tacoma were built as midsize pickup trucks, and they have remained so to date. Toyota’s Tacoma has been a dominant force in the midsize pickup truck market in the United States, and with all-electric vehicles radically taking the stage, we expect that the Toyota Tacoma electric will be a hit, although Toyota is a little late to the fully electric vehicle party.
This is because taking a car that has already done so well in the market in terms of sales and leveling up its game to the fully electric class is all too juicy to not sell. So this might just be Toyota’s strategy to remain dominant in its already leading position.
However, the Toyota Tacoma is already three generations old on the market, and despite being in the market for such a long time, the Tacoma has long been deserving of a redesign. So with Toyota already on the verge of releasing a redesigned and upgraded version of the Tacoma, we expect the leading automaker to have something breathtaking in the works and soon to hit the market. And this could only mean a lot of changes will be made to the current generation of Toyota Tacoma.
So what changes do we expect to see in the Toyota Tacoma 2024?
We expect to see a number of changes when the new Tacoma finally gets onto the market. Some of these changes include a better streamlined and modern-looking exterior design, a more advanced rear suspension, a new and more versatile body-on-frame platform, and new powertrain options, among others.
So starting with the changes to the Tacoma’s powertrain The current generation of Tacomas uses either a five- or six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic transmission, which feels outdated, to say the least, and is nowhere near being compared with what rival cars like Nissan’s Frontier and GM's Canyon offer. And so, with Toyota’s newly developed standard transmission, which the automaker featured in the Supra, being fully set, we believe there is a high chance that the new Tacoma will also use this transmission, especially considering Toyota had invested quite a lot in getting it ready.
However, when it really comes down to it, the choice of whether or not to include a manual transmission in the rollout of the new Tacoma is Toyota’s to make. So while we believe the manual suspension could be completely phased out in the 2024 Toyota Tacoma, the company might still choose to stick with keeping the manual transmission in the Tacoma TRD trim level like in the current generation, and that’s because making manual shifts is fast becoming something most trucks are now incapable of.
Again, it’s no news that the pickup truck experience has evolved to be one that offers the comfort of a compact feel coupled with rugged performance, making it suited for both city and off-roading adventures. Now this means a sturdy chassis is an inevitable necessity, and this is yet another change we expect the new Tacoma to come with—a new chassis.
The current generation of Tacomas comes with a frame that isn’t fully boxed, and this really isn’t the best, especially considering that most competing car brands come with fully boxed frames, which are generally more rigid, stronger, and offer more torque capacity. However, the 2024 Tacoma addresses this shortcoming with a frame that looks like some sort of mix between the fully boxed frame upfront and the C-shaped open frame underneath the passenger and cargo regions.
This adjustment to the Tacoma’s frame will make for a more efficient towing experience, improved and more rigid torsion, and better payload capacity. The 2024 Toyota Tacoma will also feature changes to the pickup truck’s suspension. And that’s because, beyond excellent towing capabilities and impressive payload capacity, pickup truck users are also on the lookout for a comfortable driving experience that compares to what SUVs offer as well as decent handling, all of which boils down to the Tacoma’s suspension.
And so, we expect that the new Tacoma will come with a more advanced rear suspension. This is because while the current generation of Tacomas comes with a leaf-spring suspension and has the advantage of being durable and reliable, its handling is terrible, especially when driven with unladen cargo space.
For this reason, the Toyota Tacoma will come with coil-rear suspensions for improved comfort and handling. Since the new Tacoma is to come with a good deal of upgrades made to the already existing Tacoma, we expect that the 2024 Tacoma will come built with a 2.4-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which is no doubt better performing than the current generation’s underpowered 2.7-liter I4 engine in its current base model and the 3.5-liter V6 used in other trim levels of the Tacoma.
The 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine will allow for better performance and improved fuel economy. We expect an output of up to 275 horsepower and a torque of 309 or 317 pound-feet. And while the current V6 engine offers a similar amount of power to the turbo four-cylinder engine, the turbo four-cylinder engine nevertheless attains this peak power at a lower RPM than the V6.
However, it is rumored that the new Tacoma is most likely to come with a hybrid powertrain consisting of the turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine combined with two electric motors, each positioned on an axle. We believe it would be something similar to what the Toyota Crown uses. This hybrid configuration will be able to deliver as much as 340 horsepower and a torque of 400 pound-feet. With the upgrades to the Tacoma’s chassis, suspension, and engine, it’s just normal to expect greater towing capacity.
And while the current generation of Tacomas doesn’t deliver as much towing capacity as rival pickup trucks, we expect that the 2024 Tacoma will level up on this metric. To be more exact, the current generation of Toyota Tacomas can tow up to a maximum of 6,700 pounds at best. Matching this against rival pickup trucks that can deliver up to 7,500 pounds in towing capacity, pickup trucks like the Chevrolet Colorado can tow even as much as 7,700 pounds. And while we cannot say exactly what the towing capacity of the new Tacoma will be, we expect the Toyota Tacoma 2024 to at least be on par with other rival pickup trucks in this area.
While we are not exactly certain of what the interior of the new Tacoma will be like, we believe the inspiration for its interior will come from the Tundra, and so we expect the interior to follow suit by taking its inspiration from the same source. However, we anticipate that the truck will still be available with a crew cab, an extended cab, and a choice between a short and long bed. We can only hope that the new truck's back seat will be more spacious than the present generation's cramped quarters in the crew cab, although we can’t say for certain if this will be the case.
We anticipate the 2024 Tacoma will adopt a larger and more modern infotainment system. That suggests a larger touchscreen, perhaps even the 14.0-inch screen found inside the 2019 Tundra, would replace the existing 8.0-inch model. Again, much as before, we believe the new Tacoma's infotainment system will continue to provide Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and a Wi-Fi hotspot in addition to some newer technologies.
On the exterior, the new model of this mid-size pickup should have more massive features and a number of components with a layout that is similar to that of its predecessors. It will also be built on the same TNGA-F design, which serves as the foundation for the upcoming Toyota 4Runner, Sequoia, and Tundra.
So how much will the Toyota Tacoma 2024 cost when it finally hits the market?
The current Toyota Tacoma has a starting price of $28,585, so we expect a price slightly higher than this for the new Tacoma, hopefully, a starting price of $30,000. As for the release date, we hope to see the new Tacoma debut much later, in 2023, and go on sale. Another question worth asking is whether the new Tacoma will be all-electric. Although Toyota hasn’t made any official statements with regard to a fully electric Tacoma, we believe a fully electric option will be offered in one of the trim levels when the Tacoma 2024 is finally released.
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