Toyota Motor Corp. is studying whether there is room for a small truck that would fit underneath the existing Tacoma pickup truck. And in doing so, it’s putting the spotlight on a debate now raging among the industry's designers and product planners.

Don Esmond, Toyota senior vice president, confirmed for TheCarConnection.com that the Japanese automaker is evaluating whether there is room for a smaller truck in its model line.

"We are looking at it," he said.

The new "A-BAT" concept truck displayed at both the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and at the Chicago Auto Show could serve as the model for a new smaller truck, Esmond said.

"It's a pure concept vehicle," said Esmond, adding the Toyota will be looking carefully at the consumer reaction to the vehicle throughout the auto show season. Esmond also noted Toyota's FJ Cruiser started out as a pure concept vehicle and the favorable reaction of auto show crowds helped Toyota decide to put the vehicle into production.

"I think everyone is trying to come out with products the customer doesn't know they want yet," Esmond said.

Toyota isn't the only manufacturer looking at small pickup trucks. Jim Gillette, an analyst with CSM Worldwide in Northville, Mich., noted one of the overriding trends in the car business today is that vehicle segments are getting smaller and smaller. Thus, companies ranging from Suzuki to General Motors have been looking at the small truck segment as a possible new segment or sub-segment.

"Everybody is looking for white space," said an executive with one Japanese automaker who asked not to be identified. In that kind of an environment, the small pickup truck is bound to get attention, the executive said. "I think it would have to be pretty funky-looking to work," he said.

In addition, one reason trucks like the Tacoma and the Nissan Frontier have grown in and succeeded with customers over they years is that they are quite capable for hauling snowmobiles and motorcycles, he added. "The number of people who tow in this segment is huge," he added. Giving up towing capacity could quickly limit sales.

“Everybody asks, 'Why don't you build a simple stripped-down pickup truck like they used to make.' But I'm not sure anybody would buy it," said one GM official, acknowledging there have been discussion about the feasibility of GM bringing small pickup trucks back.

Nevertheless GM has designated its design center at GM do Brazil as a center of expertise for small trucks in its new global product development system, raising the possibility GM also is moving ahead with a truck that would fit underneath the Colorado and Canyon, which company officials insist aren't going to disappear any time soon.

Ford has postponed the death of the Ranger for a least a year and Jim Farley, the company's new group executive for marketing and communication, seems determined to try a rebuild Ranger's sales even though the truck's basic design dates back more than two decades.

Meanwhile, the A-BAT is an example of why other automakers fear Toyota.

The Toyota concept hybrid truck, which offers improved fuel economy and lower emissions, comes with a distinctive un-truck-like profile that has already reminded a lot of observers of Chevrolet's old El Caminos from the 1970s.

The A-BAT isn't exactly an old-school-style truck. It is built on unibody like a car for improved handling and a smoother ride. It also features wireless Internet, a portable battery pack stowed in the center console and a solar panels on top of instrument panel which captures sunlight and converts it to energy used to charge up the navigation system.

The four-passenger A-BAT also features a relatively short, four-foot bed and a bed extender to handle the ubiquitous six-foot long sheet of plywood beyond the tailgate as well as a translucent roof panel, which slides open to allow for tall cargo inside the cab.-- Joseph Szczesny

You missed GM's Denali XT concept from Chicago? Shame on you -- here's your chance to make up for it

With last month’s Detroit auto show and its hordes of concept cars, production cars, and high-resolution photography, it’s understandable why all the top vehicle searches in January at TheCarConnection.com were vehicles shown in Detroit.

Maybe TCC readers are looking for a Jeep alternative, but the HUMMER HX concept led the list of the ten most viewed vehicles on the site last month. In a more practical vein, Hyundai’s new Genesis sedan came in a close second, while Ford’s future-thinking Explorer America concept drove into third place.

Rounding out the top five were two of the most attended media spectacles from the Detroit show. The Dodge Ram sprang to life on the streets of Detroit, with an accompanying herd of steer that found themselves with time on their hands and not much else to do. And in fifth was the Cadillac CT Coupe Concept, a last-minute surprise held back by GM that wowed the audience with sleek lines and a production-ready look.

The list of all ten most-read vehicle pages runs like this:

2008 HUMMER HX Concept

2009 Hyundai Genesis

2008 Ford Explorer America Concept

2009 Dodge Ram

2008 Cadillac CT Coupe Concept

2008 Cadillac Provoq Concept

2009 Volkswagen Passat CC

2008 Lincoln MKT Concept


2009 Cadillac CTS-V

2009 Toyota Venza

It's embargo time again for Chicago's auto show - and the new HUMMER H3T is the latest victim to fall. HUMMERguy.net's Web site says this photo was taken in anticipation of a Detroit show debut, but of course HUMMER had an HX concept for the ongoing Cobo affair earlier this month.

The new HUMMER truck has a short bed and lots of nifty cargo features, like a built-in lunchbox, according to the Web site. No specs are produced, but GM's 3.5-liter in-line five and the palindromic 5.3-liter V-8 are expected to be options. The new truck will be built alongside the Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon twins in the GM plant in Shreveport, La., starting this year.

Stay tuned for more on the H3T as TheCarConnection.com reports from the Chicago auto show.

Hummer Guy » HUMMER H3T Sneak Peak Photos

For the first time, the Mazda 2 will be available as a three-door car, and it will make its debut at March’s Geneva Motor Show. The news means a sporty “hot hatch” version – to wear the Mazda Performance Series (MPS) badge in Europe – is now more likely than ever.

The Mazda2 is based on the same architecture that will spawn the 2010 Ford Verve, which TheCarConnection.com confirmed is heading into production.

A single image of the three-door Mazda and basic details have been released ahead of its Geneva debut. The powertrain lineup will be the same as with the five-door variant, launched last September, with 1.3-liter and 1.5-liter gasoline units, plus a 1.4-liter turbodiesel. The overall dimensions also remain unchanged.

Designed as the entry level model the Mazda lineup in both price and spec, the car’s frugal engines and light weight – it tips the scales at less than 2200 pounds – mean it offers high fuel economy with low emissions.

A Mazda spokesman commented: “The Mazda 2 three-door hatchback is designed to attract new customers and boost our continued growth in the European market.”-Richard Yarrow

There are the cars of fantasy--such as the $100,000 Corvette ZR1, which I call “The Devil in the Blue Dress,” and the Lexus LF-A Roadster concept. They are real if you’re a millionaire, and will be out soon, but will always be fantasies to most of us.

There are the cars of hope—all sorts of concepts with hybrid engines, small cars such as Ford’s Verve concept, and green diesels. Most of these dreams will never be built, and even the diesels shown by BMW and Mercedes aren’t actually here yet. But that Verve will go into production in a couple years, and some German diesel models, which are said to meet our tough emission standards, are to be on sale later in the year.

But the most important cars to bow at this year’s Detroit auto show--which we covered last week and which is now open to the wide-eyed public--are the crossovers, the sport-utility vehicles built on car platforms rather than truck frames.

Every carmaker seemed to have a new one that will be on our streets soon. It was an amazing show of unanimity by the manufacturers. They figure that this is what the people want and they have them in all sizes and shapes. To heck with all those greenies who denounce them. And to heck with the traditional SUV -- of which only one new one made its debut, the Kia Borrego, nice enough to look at but hopelessly late in the running, now that the traditional SUV is all but dead.

Toyota showed the Venza, which will be built this year as a 2009 in its Kentucky plant, a crossover off the Camry platform and–-count on it—a success. Honda showed its new Pilot. BMW has the X6, a crossover in the shape of a four-door fastback sedan, riding high with its all-wheel drive, coming this year. The X6 is strange, because no one would take this off-road and it’s car shaped, not SUV-shaped.

Mercedes has its GLK, not exactly small but small for a Mercedes SUV, coming from Germany this year.

General Motors has the Pontiac Vibe crossover due in a few weeks, plus the Saturn Vue just put on sale late last year, and another crossover, which I didn’t see, to be called Traverse, I believe, replacing the TrailBlazer, and coming late this fall.

Ford showed its Flex coming this spring, and even showed a concept of its crossover Explorer replacement, which still is two years away. Chrysler showed its new Dodge Journey. And there were more new crossovers from almost everybody.

This is where the market is. Last year, which was a down year, there were nearly 2.8 million crossover sales, almost a 20-percent increase over 2006, more crossover sales than pickups.

Why are they so popular?

This is a continuation of the SUV trend, but a shift from the heavier truck-frame type vehicles. This is a natural shift which probably would be taking place even without the dramatic price increases in gasoline. The crossovers, which look like SUVs but usually sleeker, have a smoother ride, better fuel economy and come in smaller versions, too. The sales champ is the Honda CR-V which racked up an amazing 219,000 sales last year.

Why are they so popular?

Because Americans are in a particularly practical mood. These crossovers are--in their way—station wagons, but we mustn’t call them that. Station wagons, like the minivans, have gotten a bad reputation as family vehicles.

These crossover wagons are family vehicles, too. Do you lever see racing stripes on a crossover? They are generally roomy, with raised seating, are easier to enter and exit from than lower cars, and easy to pack with room in the rear to dump stuff. They come with all-wheel drive, if you want it, and we can pretend they can go off-road.

They aren’t fantasy vehicles, just solid practical vehicles, and that’s where the country is right now. The designs, which used to be boxy, are getting more curves.

This market still is not politically correct. The crossovers, even the small models such as the Honda CR-V, don’t get the fuel economy of a small car or a hybrid. But they are what Americans are buying. Some are trying to merge them into the green market—the Saturn Vue will come in a hybrid version—but we don’t know yet if Americans will pay extra for just a couple miles’ improvement in miles per gallon.

It’s possible that some future generation will revolt against the crossovers, just as today’s generations turned against the station wagons. Maybe we will go for longer, lower, wider again. Maybe we will be willing to pay for exotic engines, hybrid or hydrogen or more expensive clean diesel models.

But today the Detroit show is the evidence that we want practical vehicles and right now that means crossovers, crossovers and more crossovers.--Jerry Flint