Taco Teaserday: The Latest Next-Gen Toyota Tacoma Preview Bumps Tunes

The next-generation Toyota Tacoma pickup is on the cusp of its debut, and that means it’s teaser time. Toyota is rolling out a steady drip of preview images of the new midsize truck, and we’ve gathered them all here, in order of newest to oldest, for your perusal:

April 25, 2023: The next update shows that JBL will provide an interesting speaker for the 2024 Toyota Tacoma. JBL has been an audio provider to Toyota since 1996, so this announcement is no surprise, but this speaker is more than just something hard-mounted to the vehicle. It’s called the “Flex” and it’s a removable, portable speaker that you can take anywhere. It’s also able to be mounted just in front of the tall infotainment screen and near the center of the windshield. Zooming in on the image where the Flex speaker is sitting on the tailgate, it is Bluetooth enabled and will have a “Toyota” logo on the bottom of it.

This shot also gives us a peek at the bed of the 2024 Tacoma, and it looks like the tough, plastic interior shell currently used on today’s truck will remain. For some potential owners, this has been another grievance that they would like to see go away (just as we see that disc brakes are replacing the outdated drum brakes on the rear axle). For everyone else, it’s more of a “meh” and likely won’t affect the sales of the 2024 Toyota Tacoma in the long run.

April 11, 2023: Looks like those spy shots of the new Tacoma Trailhunter variant really did show off a lot, as the next teaser for the 2024 Tacoma reveals. In the pair of photos Toyota released this week, we can clearly make out similar upgrades, and our sleuthing is made easier by Toyota’s own press release stating “Overlanders Rejoice! Introducing the All-New 2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter!” followed by the statement: “Developed from the ground up for those seeking sustained adventures, Tacoma Trailhunter will build upon Toyota’s legendary off-road and overlanding credibility with purpose-built engineering and robust components.”

We mentioned in our story covering the Trailhunter prototypes that the rear bumper and front bumper added tire clearance. Based on these images, it seems we were correct in that. What we didn’t know at that time, but do now, is that the rear bumper was made by ARB, which also features a bright red ARB tow hook and a Trailhunter “T” badge.

There still seems to be some sort of mystery part, as all around that tow hook is blocked off by Toyota’s editors. What they didn’t block was the image that confirms that the rear suspension is not going to be a leaf sprung, as we see firm evidence that a Panhard bar is present on the Tacoma. Well, at least on the Trailhunter version of the Tacoma. We haven’t heard with 100 percent certainty that all trims of Toyota’s midsize pickup will only come with a coil spring rear suspension, like the new Tundra, or if this setup is limited to more off-roady trim levels like the TRD and Trailhunter models.

ARB gear aside, Toyota also shows us the updated 2024 Tacoma’s headlight. No huge surprise with the shape and look of the peeper, but the photo reveals the Trailhunter will wear that badging on its headlight lenses. (It appears as a cutout in the trim around the turn indicator, and looks to be backlit, too.) This same photo also shows just how much larger the faux lower grille opening below the headlight has grown and, while a bit more Tundra-y in its overall execution, the Tacoma still retains its own character in its grille and headlight design. We also see a small example of the larger fender flare that’s also covering a Goodyear Territory MT, both of which were revealed by the Trailhunter test mule spy shots.

April 4, 2023: The latest teaser from Toyota is quite the doozy. It confirms the looks of the new Tacoma’s tailgate with “TRD Pro” stamped into it. While a “spoiler” is present, fortunately, it looks like it’s integrated into the design of the Tacoma’s body lines, much like it was on the third generation and on the new Tundra.

Also visible? A very interesting “i-Force Max” badge, which would indicate a Tacoma- and segment-first hybrid powertrain. The “i-Force Max” branding was introduced on the hybridized full-size Tundra and confirms that an electrified Tacoma is coming in this next generation. Whether it is offered across its entire lineup or restricted to pricier models such as the TRD Pro remains to be seen.

March 28, 2023: The next teaser is more than meets the eye. In this wide-image Instagram post, the first picture appears to simply show the current-generation Tacoma. Moving to the second image reveals some details that seem innocuous at first. The license plate reads “040423”—could this be the next-generation Tacoma’s reveal date? And parked next to the building in the background is a blurred-out silver truck. Perhaps it’s the new Tacoma?

March 23, 2023: It only depicts a silhouetted truck on rocky ground set against the night sky, but we’re confident that this photo is our first official peek at the new 2024 Toyota Tacoma. This hotly anticipated truck is set for a dramatic redesign, and although this teaser shot doesn’t reveal much, it does show that the new Taco is getting a big injection of Tundra energy going forward.

What do we mean? The Tacoma appears to be getting some of the same squareishness that its bigger brother, the full-size Tundra pickup, received during its 2022 model year changeover. We also see that the rear of the cab gets a small spoiler, and the tailgate appears to get the same aerodynamic extension as the Tundra to help make the midsize Tacoma pickup slip through the air better.

We tried to adjust the image to see if we couldn’t eke out more detail, even from an image that gets garbled by Instagram’s coding. But Toyota seems to have planned for that trick, and no fussing with brightness or contrast changed the pickup’s shadowed visage. Still, the new styling cues are obvious and line up with the Brazilian patent images we saw earlier this year, as well as our artist’s renderings of what the next-gen Tacoma could look like and some spy shots of the new truck testing, in which it appears as though the new Tacoma is trying out a new hybrid powertrain option.

We’re expecting the 2024 Tacoma to have an electrified 2.4-liter turbocharged I-4, just like the 2023 Lexus NX350 hybrid, but mounted in a longitudinal layout. The Tacoma is still a “proper truck” with a body-on-frame architecture and rear- and four-wheel drive options, after all. We also expect Toyota will offer a full-electric version, but that timeline for the BEV Taco hasn’t been confirmed by the brand. If it comes at all, it will most likely be late in 2024 or early 2025.

Source: https://www.motortrend.com/news/2024-toyota-tacoma-preview-teaser/?lid=k4l9jyijq8mo&eml=organic%3Aeml%3Abrz2&utm_source=braze&utm_medium=emaileditorial