JoAnn and Darryl Cook, a couple in upstate New York, waited eight weeks for the salsa red 2007 Toyota Tundra they ordered to arrive at a dealership near them.Like many of the early buyers, the Cooks had a Toyota connection. They own a Matrix and traded in an older Tundra; both were trouble-free. They simply wanted a bigger truck, which Toyota delivered with the 2007 Tundra.
The Cooks are happy, but the new Tundra, among the most closely watched new vehicles this year, has had some hitches as Toyota challenges U.S. automakers in their strongest segment.
Toyota already is offering significant incentives and deflecting quality concerns, issues not usually associated with a vehicle launch by Toyota.
Yet sales are off to a strong start. Toyota sold 17,727 Tundras in May, more than double the number of the previous model.
"I felt like I was a king again driving that truck," said JoAnn Cook, 66, a soft-spoken policy rater for an insurance agency. "I felt like if somebody got in my way, I could tell them to get out of my way."
The '07 Tundra, Toyota's first true full-size truck, has been pitched as a pickup for true truckers, owners who depend on their trucks for hauling, towing and working.
Early data, though, suggest that Toyota loyalists have led the initial sales surge. If Toyota wants to reach its sales goal of 200,000 Tundras this year, the company will need more customers from Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and the Chrysler Group's Dodge, experts say.
Toyota is confident it can hit its goal, said Brian Smith, Toyota Motor Sales manager of truck and sport utility vehicle marketing.
"I will tell you that we're pleased with how the launch has gone," Smith said. "I don't think any of us thought it was going to be a walk in the park."
The Tundra launch has attracted attention and early criticism. Toyota had a limited supply of its largest 5.7-liter V8 engine at launch and was hampered by quality issues with some of those engines. About 30 out of 30,000 V8s had to be replaced because of faulty camshafts.
The engine problems have been addressed, Smith said. "We feel like it's very much under control, and barring some other type of new occurrences, which we haven't seen, I don't think you'll hear much more about it," he said.
Toyota, though, has challenges ahead. The leading buyer for the '07 Tundra is the owner of a previous Tundra, with 23 percent of trade-ins for the April-through-June 10 period coming from owners of the old model, according to Power Information Network data.
But the Tundra is also taking customers from Ford and Dodge. Ford F-series trucks are the second most-traded-in vehicle for a Tundra at 10.5 percent of trade-ins, up from 7 percent for the same period a year ago. Dodge Rams, fourth on the list, account for 5.6 percent of trade-ins, up from 3.9 percent.
2007 Tundra pulls in buyers