Bad news for the Tundra hopeful: Toyota say there's still a long wait for its "ultimate towing vehicle"

There's bad news for anyone hoping to get a hold of a Toyota Tundra sometime in 2024, with the brand vowing there will no early marks for the tough truck with the evaluation program to run its full course.

That means the 280 customers who have joined the Tundra Insider Program – the name given to the 12-month evaluation window that will be used for Toyota to get feedback on its converted truck – will be the only people behind the wheel of one until at least early 2025.

But it could last longer still, with most of the evaluation cars "still being built", with the last to be delivered by the end of April. Which could mean the 12 month evaluation period actually begins in May this year.

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"Demand is strong, interest is great," says Toyota Australia's VP of Sales and Marketing, Sean Hanley.

"And it's just begun. And we're in the process of rolling out those 280 cars to select the customers. We expect that to happen by the end of April.

"They're all accounted for, and early indications are extremely positive, but of course I've got to stress the customer program needs to run its course before we can confirm volume production."

And only once it ends will Toyota confirm the vehicle for production, and begin taking official orders for Australia.

"We're going the full distance," says Mr Hanley. "Quality is paramount and we still got a while to go before we can confirm it."

The Tundra is being pitched as Toyota’s ultimate towing vehicle, rather than its most rugged off-roader, with the brand happy to leave that mantle with the LandCruiser family.

Instead, the Tundra will arrive with a monster 4.5-tonne braked towing capacity (less than it gets in the USA, but able to be driven in Australia without the need of a special licence), making it the most tow-friendly vehicle in the Toyota stable.

It also debuts Toyota’s i-Force Max engine, which pairs a twin-turbo V6 with an electric motor and a 6.5Ahr nickel metal hydride battery to produce a total 326kW and 790Nm.

A comprehensive reengineering project through Walkinshaw in Victoria has seen the Tundra become something of a Frankenstein’s Monster, sporting bits from other Toyota and Lexus vehicles to make it feel more at home in Australia. One example is the pedal box. Rather than shifting the pedal box from the left to the right - which leaves the pedals slightly out of position in Australia - the Tundra features the original accelerator pedal, but the 300 Series’ brake pedal and pedal box, and the steering rack from a Lexus LX.