Akio Toyoda understands the importance of the Toyota IMV or Innovative International Muti-purpose Vehicle to markets such as ASEAN. After all, he was overseeing the region when Toyota unveiled it way back in 2004.
Eventually spawning the Innova, Hilux, and Fortuner, the IMV series has cumulatively sold more than five million units worldwide.
“The IMV launch remains one of the fondest memories of my career,” recalls Toyoda. “So, I decided to challenge our engineering and design teams to return to the original intent of the IMV and create something truly affordable and truly innovative.”
Under the direction of Simon Humphries, Toyota’s Chief Branding Officer and Head of Design (and the guy behind the Land Cruiser 250), Toyota wanted to return the Tamaraw back to its roots.
Humphries saw that people in ASEAN looked at vehicles as something truly multipurpose—one minute, it could be bringing the family to the mall and the next minute, it could be hauling construction supply or agricultural products. With that, the challenge was to create a vehicle that’s infinitely customizable; a blank canvas, if you will.
Humphries says the design is led by function; a very honest car he says. He points out to things like the three-piece front bumper. This is engineered so that when the corners are dinged or dented, they could be easily repaired or replaced at a low cost.
It also opens more customization options. Want wider fender flares, for example? You can simply replace that corner piece so it could blend aesthetically better. Other ways to dress up the Tamaraw include swappable headlights, roof rails, and bed extensions. Even the hood has been designed to take on functional utility hooks says Humphries.
The almost “open-source” nature of the car will be backed up by Toyota sharing information about the Tamaraw as a body builder’s guide. This will help its various auto parts suppliers and body builders create unique and tailor-made bed solutions to customers.
Jurachart Jongusuk Regional Chief Engineer of the IMV-0 goes on saying that the Tamaraw’s rear bed can be converted from one style to another by two adults within an hour. It will be “affordable and accessible” he says. They are targeting first car buyers who can also use their Tamaraw for business to help them generate income. It’s also suitable as an emergency response vehicle whether it be a fire truck, police car, or ambulance.
“I truly believe these are products that can enhance the quality of life for many people and provide new economic opportunities. Because at Toyota we believe people come first. We believe in building cars to serve the real-life needs of our customers. That is why our IMV-0 team spent many months in the field observing the lifestyles and needs of our potential owners. And I’m very pleased to say that in 2024, for the first time ever IMV vehicles such as this next generation Tamaraw, will be produced as CBUs right here in the Philippines at our Santa Rosa plant,” concluded Toyoda in his speech.
No specific mechanical details were given during the launch, but the Tamaraw Pace Car Concept is powered by the Hilux’s running gear with a 2GD-FTV engine mated to a 6-speed manual. In the past, Toyota has mentioned that the IMV-0 will offer a high level of powertrain flexibility enabling it to take on powertrains ranging from clean diesels and gasoline to hybrids and even battery electric.
As for pricing, there’s nothing official yet, but it’s being floated around that it will be positioned below the Hilux with a starting price of about P 750,000.
The design might be polarizing. Functional not pretentious unlike Chinese car copies like the Hiace and many other outrageous copied or "inspired" Chinese clones. At least there is an effort.
ReplyDelete750k expected starting? That is very aggressive from Toyota. I was expecting them to price it the above the L300 because it's newer and completely supersede the Hilux Single Cab (Cab and Chassis, FX, and Cargo). This means the Hilux Fleet range may not be entirely discontinued and most importantly, undercut the L300. TMP is really going after Mitsubishi here if they do end up pricing this at that range. Hell, they will even directly hit the Foton Harabas which is supposed to be a more affordable alternative to the L300.
ReplyDeleteIf this is a diesel it will affect lite ace sales.
ReplyDeleteInterior looks very basic but I assume its gonna be durable IMHO.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the previous Tamaraw was surely known for its first class interior. 🤡
DeleteNot truely first-class. 😜
DeleteNice price for a tamaraw that intended to be a workhorse
ReplyDelete750,000 Pesos?Not gonna happen unless they remove the passenger side airbag and ABS of it to make it cheaper.Interior of it is typical DNGA full of hard cheap plastics.Most likely body materials of it are made of thin sheetmetal similar again to DNGA vehicles.
ReplyDeleteToyota won't mention its payload capacity as it's likely similar to Hilux single cab where it can only load up to 1 ton only.
Isuzu Traviz is selling very well despite its weak engine as its got high payload capacity same goes for ancient L300 with 1.2 ton payload capacity.
Buyers in this UV class care more about payload capacity over looks.
750k, cab and chassis. but who knows, they could be feeling the pressure from China's emergence that they want to be relevant again.
ReplyDeleteOnly Foton is the major Chinese player in the commercial vehicle space and 700-800K is where their competitor, the Harabas, sits. China is making waves in the passenger car space but not commercial just yet. I wouldn't call that price range for the Tamaraw as a result of pressure from China since Foton isn't that large in the commercial space (largest challenger brand but not as strong as Isuzu or Toyota).
DeleteToyota wants to get the sales of L300,Traviz and K2500 but in reality it'll eat up the sales of the Hilux.
DeleteChinese pickup trucks are mostly double cab ones in the Philippines
Foton Thunder,JAC T8 Pro and GWM Cannon are the ones available in the local market.
Mm let’s not include Chinese pickup. Yaks yan
DeleteI supposed 750K is just cab and chassis or without any feature yet on the bed side of Tamaraw, after market cost will jack up selling to a million easily unless it is just a flatbed pickup format.
ReplyDeleteHindi nila cinonsider ang wagon/AUV/MPV variant katulad ng Tamaraw FX at Revo noon. Pang UV Express sana saka pangtaxi din sa Baguio. Mas maliit at mas mura sa HiAce dahil nasa over 1M na ang HiAce. Saka madaming operators ang nagpull out ng UV Express units noong pandemic, saka phased out na din ang Crosswind at Adventure and it's just a matter of time before iretire na din sila isa isa after 13 years. Kaya I think it's stupid for TMP not to consider this market and miss the opportunity to dominate the fleet market of smaller UV Express vehicles. But I think the design made it impossible for them to design a 3-row AUV/MPV variant dahil based on the concept vehicles, mataas ang position ng ladder frame chassis sa likod ng cab, because this is the space where the batteries will be placed for the hybrid and EV variants in the future. Mapapansin din sa modern jeepney na concept, na ang taas din ng floor sa passenger cabin at kailangan pa din nakayuko ka pag sumakay at 10 seats lang ang kaya isakay, bawal ang nakatayo unlike modern PUVs. Dahil mataas nga ang chassis. Hindi magiging mabenta ang variant na to kung 10 seats lang tapos barya barya lang ang pamasahe. Dapat gawin nilang pangUV Express ang design ng passenger cabin para mas malaki ang kita.
ReplyDeleteInnova and almost 2 decade old Hiace H200 SWB still exists.
DeleteWith safety as a concern, they probably won't release a passenger-hauler version like the orig Tamaraws.
DeleteWhy the hood is high?
ReplyDelete750k is very attractive and possible because it is locally built in the Philippines. Ibenta nyo na mga basurang chinese cars nyo 👍
ReplyDeletenaglalabasan na ngayon issues ng geely. sabi ko na nga ba, sooner or later magkakaalaman din.
DeleteNot all people would buy a cab and chassis utility vehicle and then place some ugly jeepney UV style seats at the back of it with usual terrible ride quality,bad NVH and mediocre interior plastics usually seen in that class.
Deletedapat yang tamaraw model ginawa nalng nilang service hauling vehicle type like L300 tapos pang masa ang presyo mas maganda pa sana
ReplyDeleteThey could sell units at low profit with the main goal of keeping the competition at bay. Specially the chinese variants
ReplyDeletePag inilabas na Am sure maraming version ang tamaraw to cater to different needs.
ReplyDeleteI hope magkaroon din Ng automatic transmission katulad Ng Revo.
ReplyDeleteAutomatic transmission fot next gen Tamaraw is definitely expected to be offered, at least for the possible wagon version.
DeleteAgree
DeleteIm sure this will be hard core selling if they sell it also for mpv taxi franchisees.
ReplyDeleteTo Toyota Motors Designer/ Mr Simon Humpries pls consider adding a comptible
ReplyDeleteTamaraw 4x4 Variant would be more tempting especially for users in mountainous and rough roads parts of the country.
ReplyDeleteGrabe naman effort ng toyota para gawing moderno yan. Pero kahit maging ano pa yan, bandang huli sisingilin pa rin naman sa gatepass yan ng mga gahamang villages o subdivisions sa looban. Pano, commercial vehicle eh. 😹
ReplyDeleteTrue story.
Priced at around 750k? That's a bit possible as the current base Hilux is around 900k. Though realistically, I think it would be 800k to compete with the Euro 4 L300.
ReplyDelete