1 1/8-SCALE PICKUP; On third try, Toyota finally goes large.(News)

Byline: BOB GRITZINGER

For all of its ballyhooed product prescience-its apparent ability to build the right vehicle for every automotive segment on the planet-no one would argue that when it comes to full-size American pickup trucks, Toyota is down to its third strike.

To carry that all-American baseball metaphor one further, the Japanese juggernaut might be the New York Yankees of the car world, but on big trucks the company is facing a 3-2 count, with two outs, in the bottom of ninth.

Not surprisingly, with the all-new 2007 Tundra, Toyota has reached down deep, taken a solid cut and connected for a base hit. Time and the marketplace will tell whether the truck is a mere single or a surprise in-the-park game-winning homer. Our guess is it'll slide in as a solid second bagger-second to competition coming from General Motors' all-new 2007 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups that went on sale in October ("Pull-Ahead Program,'' Nov. 6, 2006), but a clear favorite over Nissan's Titan and the Dodge Ram. How the Tundra does against the aging mom-and-apple-pie Ford F-150 will determine how big Toyota's win will be-and most likely whether the company will claim the title of world's largest automaker in 2007.

GM, with its new trucks, might be the only automaker that needn't panic about Toyota's onslaught on this last bastion of the American market; Ford's four-year-old F-150, Dodge's niche Ram and Nissan's Titan-formerly the lone Japanese full-size pickup-will spend the coming year with the Texas- and Indiana-built Tundra closing quickly in the rearview mirror.

Though Toyota is the new kid on the big-truck block, the company is no stranger to the truck business. Toyota introduced its first trucks to U.S. buyers some 40 years ago, starting with the Land Cruiser-based FJ45 pickup that sold in the U.S. for just one year. It was followed by the 85-hp half-ton 1964 Stout. Though hardly a sales success, Stout taught Toyota the lessons it needed to develop the HiLux, the truck credited with establishing Toyota's small-truck credentials in the U.S.

It wasn't until 1993, however, that Toyota turned its sights on the large-truck segment, taking its first shot with the T100 pickup. Though considerably larger than Toyota's compact pickups, it remained a V6-powered baby beside the trucks offered by the Big Three brethren. Shot No. 2 came in 1999 with the introduction of the Tundra, Toyota's near full-size pickup. Powered by a torquey 4.7-liter V8, the U.S.-manufactured Tundra won critical acclaim, but not American hearts. Attempts to "get bigger'' with the 2004 Double Cab proved a mere stopgap until the true full- size truck could be developed.