Tacoma

Make
Toyota
Segment
Sports Car

If you want a reliable off-roader, there's probably no better company to buy from than Toyota. Its Land Cruiser is one of the greatest such vehicles, but it's not alone. The Tacoma and Tundra are pretty handy off the beaten path, and even the RAV4 is available in a capable TRD Off Road trim. But as with anything, there is room for improvement. And now it seems that these improvements could come as part of a new Overtrail trim.

This morning, CarBuzz uncovered a new trademark application for the Overtrail name that was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and we think this may be applied to a new range of off-roaders.

Since the trademark info does not specifically say what application this has, we'd like to posit another theory. A couple of months ago, Toyota North America's executive vice president of sales, Bob Carter, commented that the compact pickup truck segment is one of the niches that the Japanese automaker is looking at closely, and it's not unreasonable to assume that his comments were more revealing than intended. Perhaps Toyota is already working on an alternative to the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz, and perhaps this new creation will be called the Toyota Overtrail. If that is the case, we suspect that it should be pretty capable off-road since the name certainly suggests as much.

Alternatively, the Overtrail name could be part of a particular program, just as Dodge has Speed Week. If that is the case, then Overtrail may be an off-road training school, an adventure tour, or a mixture of the two. We will have to wait a while until we learn more, however, as Toyota has not indicated anything thus far and is unlikely to make any big announcements without first teasing what's on the way. Whatever the case, Toyota appears to be just as interested in making off-roaders more capable as it is in making everyday cars fun and exciting to speed freaks.