2024 Toyota Tundra pick-up hits Melbourne streets ahead of its debut

As the Toyota Tundra edges closer to its Australian launch, prototypes continue to be put through their paces on local roads.

Another 2024 Toyota Tundra prototype has been photographed in Australia as the car giant continues on-road testing – this time, driving through the tight streets of Melbourne.

The Tundra – caught on camera by a keen-eyed Drive reader – is expected to be confirmed for Australian showrooms in the coming months ahead of formal showroom arrivals anticipated next year, as Toyota continues to develop the right-hand-drive version before giving the green light for launch.

The car giant’s entry into the full-size pick-up segment in Australia will compete against the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, and the Ram 1500.

As reported by Drive in July 2023, the Toyota Tundra is planned to be offered in Australia with a hybrid-assisted 3.5-litre twin-turbo petrol V6.

While local specifications have yet to be announced, in the United States – where the model has been on sale since 2022 – the twin-turbo hybrid V6 sends a combined 325kW and 790Nm to all four wheels through a 10-speed automatic transmission.

Australian models will also get revised tail-lamps, with one of the three sections finished in opaque white to house amber indicators – rather than flashing red indicators, which are legal in the US but not permitted under Australian Design Rules.

Toyota Australia has chosen the Walkinshaw Automotive Group – the former parent company of Holden Special Vehicles – to remanufacture the Tundra pick-ups from left- to right-hand-drive, a service Walkinshaw also completes for General Motors Special Vehicles with the Silverado and Ram for the 1500.

Just 300 vehicles will be built initially before the Tundra is locked-in as part of Toyota’s local line-up, with Toyota executives in Japan requiring the right-hand-drive conversion to meet factory-built levels of quality before it’s signed off.

As with the hydrogen fuel-cell Mirai, Toyota may require the first 300 customers to lease the Tundra, allowing the company the option to recall the vehicles at the end of the lease period.

“Based on everything, the work we’ve done, the huge support we’ve had from Toyota North America, the huge support from (Toyota Japan), the massive amount of work done locally in product development and engineering, we’re very confident,” Toyota Australia’s head of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley, told Drive in May 2023.

“But what we want to be really confident about is that the 301st vehicle, the first one sold to a customer (after the 300 vehicles in the real-world test fleet), will be the best quality you could possibly have and the closest to (factory) quality manufacturing of any car on the market.”

More details of the 2024 Toyota Tundra for Australia are expected in the coming months.

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