2020 Tacoma teased; what’s in store for Toyota’s mid-size pickup?

Toyota released a teaser image today to promote the unveiling of the upcoming refreshed 2020 Tacoma. The above photo and the headline, “2020 Toyota Tacoma Storms Into the Windy City” are all we get, leaving us wondering what changes Toyota has made to its pickup.

2016 saw the introduction of an all-new Tacoma, the third generation of the wildly popular midsize truck. Released to much dispute over the merits of new 3.5L V6 and six-speed automatic (the 4.0L V6 / 5-speed auto combo was much loved by the Tacoma community), this has not done much to quell the Taco’s massive cult-like following in work environments, the overlanding community, and everywhere in-between.

Now faced with much stiffer competition than what was available half of a lifecycle ago, Toyota is bringing a refreshed version of the Tacoma to the Chicago Auto Show next month. Likely beefed up to compete with the all-new Ford Ranger and the much more impressive drivetrains of the Colorado/Canyon twins, 2020 very well may see a more powerful and off-road savvy version of the truck currently on sale today. It looks like the sheetmetal has been somewhat revised to help give it a visual edge over its competitors, but the extent to which we cannot quite make out from the cropped photo. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new slew of off-road hardware and tech for the TRD Pro to help it keep pace with the ZR2, and maybe a little more in the way of luxury for the Limited trim models. And of course, we can always hope for a new powertrain, but that very much remains to be seen. All-in-all, it very well could be a significant revamp.

It’s fun to theorize on what the refreshed Tacoma will have over its predecessor, so let’s do just that. Sound off in the Comments to let us know what you think and/or hope Toyota will give us for the 2020 model year Tacoma.

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6 responses to “2020 Tacoma teased; what’s in store for Toyota’s mid-size pickup?”

  1. Eric Rucker Avatar

    Wonder if we’ll see a hybrid powertrain dropped in – the LC/LS 500h/Crown Hybrid 3.5 powertrain seems to me like it was designed for a truck (the complexity is unnecessary for the car applications we’ve seen it in so far), although it’s also massively overkill on power for a truck of this size (it’s about right for a Tundra though).

  2. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    The 2020 Tacoma will be the same basic size as a 2005 Tundra and have a diesel as a $10000 option.

    1. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      If there’s one small benefit from Toyota leaving the Tacoma on a ~15 year old platform, it’s made it semi-bloat resistant.

  3. Professor BananaHot Avatar
    Professor BananaHot

    For 2020 it’ll be 220 inches long!

    Four inches longer than a standard parking space!

    (note: this is conjecture)

    1. caltemus Avatar
      caltemus

      Mmmmm, external bed rails and they’re not at shoulder height. Must have been nice