Tundra Versus the F-150 – What's Wrong With Toyota?
Can the Toyota Tundra go toe-to-toe with the Ford F-150, and does it make sense to try? The F-150 is the most popular vehicle in the U.S., despite a 12 percent drop in sales. Ford still managed to sell 787, 422 F-150s in 2020. Toyota sold a little over 109,000 Tundras in 2020, down two percent from 2019. While that sounds like the Tundra did well, it only outran the Nissan Titan.
For all the Tundra’s reliability and dependability, it didn’t make the top 25 vehicles sold in America in 2020. The F-150 receives updates all the time, while it’s been quite a while since the Tundra hit the refresh button. Why does this make a difference? The Chevrolet Silverado was the second most popular vehicle at 586,675 units. The Ram pickup, with 563,676 sold, was third.
The Tundra is dated. Consumers like new trucks. What does it tell you when the GMC Sierra finishes in the top ten (ninth, with 253,016 sales), and sales went up nine percent in 2020? We may quibble about the front fascia designs or headlight placement, but it does start a conversation.
Comparing the base Tundra to the lowest-level F-150, there’s about a $5,000 difference between them. Yes, you get more standard features on the Tundra than the F-150, but some of them are safety-related, or entertainment upgrades. That’s not going to appeal to someone who wants or needs a basic work truck with as few frills as possible, and that’s another reason why Tundra sales are what they are.
Is it the country of origin? Maybe it is, at least when it comes to pickup trucks. Even though the Titan is assembled in Canton, Mississippi, that’s not the same as being built in the D. Detroit, Motor City. No so for the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, or the Honda Civic, all top picks.
Maybe there’s some hope for the new 2022 Toyota Tundra. This will be its third generation, and Toyota is usually very good at moving in the right direction.
[Image: Toyota]
With a father who owned a dealership, I literally grew up in the business. After college, I worked for GM, Nissan and Mazda, writing articles for automotive enthusiast magazines as a side gig. I discovered you could make a living selling ad space at Four Wheeler magazine, before I moved on to selling TV for the National Hot Rod Association. After that, I started Roadhouse, a marketing, advertising and PR firm dedicated to the automotive, outdoor/apparel, and entertainment industries. Through the years, I continued writing, shooting, and editing. It keep things interesting.
More by Jason R. Sakurai
Comments
Join the conversation
Forget for the moment how dated it is 15 years and three generations of updates for everybody else later, the Tundra in 2007 lapped the entire field and it wasn't even close. Fords weighed three tons empty and their engines ate themselves, and had been doing so long enough for the word to get out. GM had an otherwise decent truck hamstrung by a carryover powertrain from the previous century with a transmission that also ate itself. Ram was at its Daimler nadir and the Hemi got 12 mpg. Yeah gas was stupid expensive, yeah the bankers almost immediately burned down the world economy and the truck market with it, yeah not every half ton trim had a Toyota analog, but even that burned down truck market bought a million of those domestic pieces of junk a year while Tundras were sitting on dealer lots and TMMTX was idling shifts. Blind loyalty isn't something wrong with Toyota and it's not something Toyota can fix.
I own a 17 tundra crew cab 5.7. Needed a truck to tow boat and race car, plus bed for tires tools etc. Tried them all. At the time the dodge wasnt serious, the Gm had a sub par powertrain and the ford was simply expensive. The Tudra cots significantly less than the others, and its tow rating was far higher. To get the same tow rating on ford it would have increased the price delta even further. Theres a reason the ford is No1. its like a limo to ride in, and to drive its simply in another orbit to the toyota. The ford drives more like a good car but on 12/10 scale, the Toyota drives like a refined Truck. the Toyota is a refined truck, from the era when trucks were still trucks. Its an anvil and will probably last forever. The transmssion is great like an old fasshioned at its easy to shift with your right foot. Fuel economy is atrocious, but tis a truck, used as a truck for when its apropirate. If I drove a truck as a daily down the highway, the ford or ram would e the choice. If it were my daily thee extra cost of the Ford would be well justified. For a weekend use vehicle for purpose, the tundra does its job great. 45k miles in 4 years, so it will last another 15 or so. Maybe when electric trucks can toiw distance, or I win the lottery so price does not matter Ill get a different ruck.