Tacoma

Make
Toyota
Segment
Sports Car

The market for mid-size pickup trucks is heating up. But in terms of US sales, at least, the Tacoma is the undisputed leader. And Toyota's not about to give up its place to newcomers like the Ford Ranger and Jeep Gladiator.

In fact the Japanese giant is preparing to unveil a new one at the Chicago Auto Show in a little over a week from now. And it's released this teaser image to announce its intent. It's just not saying much to go with the single, cropped, darkened image of the new Tacoma's snout.

Toyota rolled out the current, third-generation Tacoma early in 2015. That may not seem like very long ago, especially considering how long-in-the-tooth the Nissan Frontier has grown by now. But while the Chevy Colorado and its twin, the GMC Canyon, are slightly older, the Honda Ridgeline and the aforementioned Ranger and Gladiator are much newer. So after four years, the Tacoma's being replaced – or refreshed, at least. It's hard to tell much from the teaser image. What is for certain, though, is that Toyota is gonna sell them by the... well, the truckload.

Last year, Toyota moved a record 245,659 Tacomas in the United States alone. That's more than double the number of full-size Tundras it moved over the course of the same twelve months, and makes the Tacoma one of its top-selling nameplates – behind only the RAV4, Camry, and Corolla, and just ahead of the Highlander. And those are some of the best-selling vehicles in America. If the new 2020 Tacoma's numbers improve on those, they could eclipse the entire Lexus division, which sold fewer than 300,000 vehicles last year. The RX crossover is the division's top seller, but still didn't sell half as many last year as Toyota sold Tacomas.