When Will They Hit Dealer Lots?

Noob to the forum. I was in a Toyota dealer today in Denver picking up a rental car b/c my '14 Silverado was just totaled (rear ended at a standstill - he was going over 50MPH - bent/crumpled frame, cab, bed, and so on). So, I figured I would check out the '15 Tacos since I will be hunting for a new vehicle next week. Assigned sales schlup tells me I don't want the '15, wait for the '16 it's going to be "a whole new truck blah blah blah". I tell him I need to know when b/c I can't wait until November. He wanders off and comes back and says they have 6 on "A" status for 3 or 4 weeks from now. Not being in the car industry I told him I know squat about "A" status and he explained that it means they are on "allocation" which means they have a build and ship date. Don't flame me if that is not correct but that is what he says. So that puts the first ones at the end of August in Denver.

I would still like to know if the interior of these things is still going to be in the stone ages or not. Its hard to tell from the press pics. I admit, I'm getting softer in my old age and loved my heated seats and heated steering wheel in the Silverado. When it is -10F that is nice and should not require a top end package. (I might DIY that but why the heck should I have to Toyota?) I had an '04 Tundra and put 200k miles on it before it slid into a snowy ditch and died. The new Tundra does noting for me so I am afraid that the new Taco won't either. I would love to come back to Toyota and I'm also looking to go with a smaller truck this time. Sending a kid off to college and so overall need less space day to day. I hope the DC long bed gets some decent mileage - my day to day is on the highway and it was nice jumping up to 20+ MPG in the Silverado with 4wd from the old Tundra. Anyone have a good or secret clue on the MPG? Stick or auto is OK by me. I'd love a stick, v6 that got mid to upper 20's in 4x4. Dream big right? Sigh.

 

6 of then in 3 to 4 weeks? No way

 

If you are a automatic transmission engineer. How can you know nothing about the rear end. Why do you have to look up ratios 1-5?

 

Like I said, that was his claim. He was pretty young and not terribly knowledgable as a whole. Probably just trying to keep me hooked. I can't wait until November. Early October I can manage if I run out my rental and then mooch some vehicles from friends for a bit. But the '15 interior is horrendous so the '16 needs to be way better and get somewhere close to what I can get elsewhere. I like the '16 exterior shots I've seen just fine - looks like a Tacoma to me - I'd do things differently but whatever. The engine and drivetrain ... it will be better the question is how much? Sure, there will be TSB's but there are with all new vehicles. I'll bet on Toyota to be the best out of the gate despite all the issues they've had. My Silverado already had three and a fourth weird starting issue if you parked it -10F or below in AWD Auto and tried to restart cold ... some magical incantation that confused the ECM and required disconnecting the battery to reset it all but was not recall worthy just a note to techs. Sigh.

We'll see when they really become available.

 

Call me crazy, but I could've sworn I saw a 3rd Gen on the freeway yesterday morning on my way to work. I'm almost positive! I never seen anything like it on the road. It was really early morning (5:30), so I could be wrong.

 

I work on an automotive assembly line right now and I can tell you with 100% certainty they will be building '15s and '16s at the same time. In fact, this being Toyota, they've probably made about 100 of them so far over the last 3-6 months with ever increasing quantities each week leading up to full production. They do this because us workers need to get used to the processes in order to do them in TAC time (in under a minute where I work) and it also give us a chance to see potential problems that can arise and also figure out ways to avoid or correct when they do appear. As far as '15s and '16s being built, they will be for a few weeks after the 16 is 'launched'. Toyota is going to build 15s until they can't build them anymore (run out of major parts) since they already paid for them months ago. As for the rest of the minor parts they have stock of, those will be left as O.E. stock for dealers, etc.

 

Doubt it. TMMTX has an estimated capacity of 200k units/year to split between the Tundra and Tacoma. TMMBC (Mexico) has a capacity of 50k Tacomas and 200k truck beds. Where I work we run 2 different CUVs and a single mid-sized sedan on the same production line and we have capacity for over 300k units/year.

Hyundai has the largest single production facility in the world at 1.6 million units/year, but it is comprised of 5 individual plants located on the same grounds in Ulsan, Korea. http://thekoreancarblog.com/2014/04/11/worlds-largest-single-factory-hyundai-ulsan-plant/

 

My closest dealer shows 54 '15 Tacomas in stock which is more than a couple of weeks ago. Now they all show a discount though. I think this dealer sells a ton of Tacomas. Their homepage actually has the 2016 Tacoma on it from one of the stock Toyota pictures. Not sure if the homepage image gets rotated.
http://www.pretoy.com/

Edit. There are about 7 or 8 different homepage images. One shows the '16 Taco

 

Back to the OP, anyone heard anything more on the dealer times? Is October / November the consensus?

 

Ita a 2016.
January 1, 2016

 

Super helpful, thanks.

 

Looking good.

 

Huhhhh. . . They say the camera adds 10 pounds, but I don't see it . .

 

ooooh, nice and shiny.

It will be interesting to see the maintenance interval for it.

 

Same intervals as the V6 Sienna

 

Thanks for that pic redsoxcole. Man I'm tired of waiting for this truck to come out. And post the MPG's already. If I like it, going to try and convince wife to trade the 2000 (she hates it) in on Gen 3 and keep the old Tundra for truck duty.

 

I feel like the 3rd gen Tacoma is like the 3 shells in Demolition man.. I will stick to my 2002 and when it dies I will fix it.

 

The 2015 gets better MPG's than the 2000. So already there is a valid excuse for going with the 16's since it more than likely will have better MPGs than the 2015, even if it's just by 1. So if you want the 16' go get the 16'. No reasons necessary. The 2000 will get a good home.

 

I ordered my 2016 TRD Sport Access Cab last Friday, 7/24. Dealer said I will have it mid-September. Can't wait.

 

Congrats!