When you can buy a Toyota Tundra in Australia

Toyota has finally confirmed when you’ll be able to purchase its US-built, locally remanufactured Tundra pickup in Australia.

The 2025 Toyota Tundra will go on sale from mid-November 2024, the culmination of a project that’s been in the works since 2019.

Once it goes on sale, it’ll be offered solely in Limited guise, however Toyota has confirmed a higher-spec model will follow during the second quarter of 2025.

Toyota hasn’t confirmed what this will be called, referring to it only as “a new Australian top-of-the-range premium version”.

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The company has yet to confirm pricing, though an entry in an industry pricing guide seen by CarExpert earlier this year listed a sticker of $145,990 before on-road costs. Toyota has previously referred to this amount as “indicative only”.

All Tundras locally will use Toyota’s 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 powertrain, called i-Force Max, with 326kW of power and 790Nm of torque.

The Tundra features a 10-speed automatic transmission and a part-time four-wheel drive system with a dual-range transfer case.

It boasts a braked towing capacity of 4500kg, a whole 1000kg more than the most capable versions of the HiLux.

Standard equipment on the Tundra Limited includes:

• 20-inch alloy wheels
• LED headlights
• Leather-accented seats
• Heated, ventilated and power-adjustable front seats
• 14-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Wireless Apple CarPlay
• Wired Android Auto
• 12-speaker JBL sound system
• 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
• Dual-zone climate control

The as-yet unnamed top-spec version adds:

• Unique grille
• Black-painted alloy wheels
• Black-accented tailgate
• Panoramic sunroof
• Massaging front seats
• Heated and ventilated outboard rear seats
• Power-adjustable steering column
• Heated steering wheel
• 10.9-inch head-up display

Those inclusions suggest it’ll follow the US-market Tundra Platinum closely, though this grade has grey-finish alloy wheels.

The Platinum isn’t even the fanciest Tundra, with the Capstone serving as the flagship of the line.

Toyota had been conducting a “real-world evaluation and validation program” of the Ram 1500 rival since September 2023 to ensure Walkinshaw Automotive Group could remanufacture it in right-hand drive to the Japanese giant’s exacting durability, quality and reliability standards.

The locally remanufactured Tundra uses many parts and components from other Toyota vehicles, including the LandCruiser 300 Series.

A total of 300 remanufactured Tundras have already been leased to customers, all in Limited trim.

“This announcement marks the first time, anywhere in the world, where we at Toyota have taken a vehicle built in a country that’s not Japan, exported it to a third country, re-engineered it with a local partner, undertaken final assembly in a non-Toyota factory, and sold it as 100 per cent Toyota-branded vehicle,” said Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia vice president for sales, marketing and franchise operations.

“Anyone who refers to the right-hand drive Tundra as a mere conversion is massively under-calling what has been achieved here.

“This vehicle sets a new benchmark for re-engineering a full-sized pickup truck, indeed any vehicle, from left-hand drive to right-hand drive.”

The Tundra will be a late arrival in the full-sized pickup segment in Australia, with the Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and Ford F-150 beating it to the punch.

Toyota – by far the largest brand in Australia by market share – isn’t concerned, however.

“I think people will gravitate to brands they trust,” Mr Hanley told CarExpert.

“Toyota enjoys an immense amount of trust, and I think that trust and how we’ve gone about bringing this car to market… We’ve been very open, very public about our quality requirements before we launched this vehicle, we’ve now hit those quality benchmarks, [and] we can confidently go to customers and say you’re getting a Toyota-quality conversion here.”

Toyota said this was just the beginning of its partnership with Walkinshaw, but at this point it has ruled out bringing the Tundra’s SUV sibling, the Sequoia, to Australia.

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