TOKYO: TOYOTA’S Ultimate Utility Vehicle is based on Toyota Tacoma running gear with the modified body of a Toyota Sienna plonked on top.
Details are thin about the one-off, but you can see that it gets a matte paint job with auxiliary LED light bars on the roof, tinted headlights, off-road tyres, flared guards and running boards. Beyond that, the suspension, engine and transmission are likely to be straight off the Tacoma.
The Ultimate Utility Vehicle is part of Toyota’s Ever Better Expedition which will see Toyota boffins get out from behind their computers and out into the real world driving the vehicles they design and build. The tour will cover five continents
“A convoy of Toyota vehicles left Plano yesterday on a 110-day transcontinental journey that will allow Toyota engineers and other team members to feel the road, experience vehicle performance, connect with customers and gather new insights to inspire the design and development of future vehicles,” Toyota said in a statement.
“Bringing our team members together at this striking and inspiring new campus in Plano will help Toyota become a more cohesive, collaborative and innovative company so we can serve our customers better,” said Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota’s North America Region.
“Our efforts to become One Toyota in North America go hand-in-hand with the goals of the Ever-Better Expedition, which embodies our passion for continuous improvement and sharing ideas so that we can deliver products that exceed our customers’ expectations.”
