“Tacoma X-Runner Concept”: SEMA Build Episode 3 | Toyota
I was with the company in Southern California when we introduced the X-Runner, and at the time it was the fastest vehicle in our lineup. Fast forward to today, and you get our great engineering and design teams out of Ann Arbor
And they say wait a minute what can we do on the new Tacoma platform to push the envelope when it comes to X-Runner. There’s build schedules, then there’s short build schedules, then there’s SEMA build schedules. In my entire career, I have never worked on a project that was that fast.
The Catly Studio is great cause we get a chance to work with them. We get to bounce ideas off one another. We balance practicality with cool styling and appearance, but it really starts with cool styling. Some of the unique elements of this versus a typical Tacoma..
We developed a new larger hood scoop, with this really vibrant red pin stripe that is all accented by a satin black and then we included the the red from the X-Runner logo even in the Toyota logo in the grill which we developed uniquely for this vehicle.
SEMA builds everywhere are about get it done, down and dirty, roll up your sleeves and it’s teams of people that are passionate about vehicles that get them done. So one of the great things about this project is we’ve been able to bring everyone
From the Chassis Group, the Powertrain Group, and then the Prototype Group all as one essential group to bring this to life. We brought everything down to our PD lab here for final assembly. So we’ve got everything fit up, the fresh engine, the fresh transmission, fresh radiators, intakes, the whole nine yards.
In part of this development we have something ongoing it’s called Project Hammer, and that was really our ability to bring a performance tune after point of purchase. To allow our customers the opportunity to upgrade their vehicles and their powertrains and so that is featured here today in this truck
But also we’re really excited to announce that will be available here in the next coming months for anybody else who happens to be running that. So Tundra owners, rejoice. We’re going to have some power coming your way. We have a Tundra axle that we’ve then modified with some Tacoma parts.
We were able to adopt the air suspension from a Tundra which is not available as a Tacoma feature but definitely gives us that kind of aggressive sporty look. When we developed the the new TNGF platform. The idea behind that was to have this very flexible, I’ll call it brother vehicles
And here we’re able to Interchange parts. Though it’s not just the North American product, but also the global product. It gives us a lot of flexibility. It gives us a lot of dynamics. So what if we take some of the components that were designed for the 1/2 ton truck,
The Tundra and put them in this midsize segment. I got another fun wire harness for you to add that I got. Being that it’s a Tundra wire harness, there’s different wiring, different connectors, different components that all need to be fit into essentially a smaller cabin.
So there’s an excitement in the air now as we’re going to set the cab to the chassis itself. We’ve got a lot of clearance concerns as we set that cab to the frame itself. Now we just need to bring our painted final body onto that frame. It’s exciting to see this going together.
In the end I think we’ve got a great team working together between all of the different groups. I think we’ll be able to come together as a team and knock this out of the park. They built an incredibly beautiful truck,
That not only I think will peak the interest of a lot of enthusiasts but show the range of Tacoma. Yes we can go off-road with Tacoma, but imagine if we do something that’s built for the street and that’s what TRD gives us and that’s what the TNGF platform gives us
But most importantly it shows you the creativity and the excitement and the teamwork across Toyota You know it just comes down to, is there demand? and can we bring this to market? So we’re excited. We’re excited for the opportunity to dream.
Check out the third episode of the “X-Runner” story, as the Design and Engineering teams from Toyota R&D and Toyota’s famous Calty Design Studio morph an all-new 2024 Tacoma into a slammed, modern-day X-Runner. Watch episode 1 of this SEMA Build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtU0QWxXYik&list=PLsOvRYzJPCwV5Ch7MtGpI96Zs8cZSG_GF
Learn more about 2024 Tacoma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92S9EYC3XZo&list=PLsOvRYzJPCwURQDKSUCg3loRJYc2L–SC&index=1
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This is the 3rd Episode from our SEMA 2023 Behind the Build series of the Tacoma X-Runner build.
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