Toyota Tundra Sales Are Slow For One Reason

It's been nearly two decades since the first Toyota Tundra hit the market. Though quite a bit smaller than today's Tundra, the first-gen model proved Toyota is capable of building a proper full-size truck. Thecurrent Tundra一直在the market since 2007, making it the oldest full-size truck sold in the US. It was last updated in 2014 and remains a solid seller for the Japanese automaker.

Automotive Newshas an interesting report about the Tundra's overall sales status. Despite a 1.6 percent increase in sales through November of this year and a 4.1 percent segment increase in pickup truck sales, theTundra is still lagging behind its Detroit Three competitors.

Although it's ahead of the Nissan Titan sales wise, Toyota says the main reason for the Tundra's slower than expected sales is mainly due to one vehicle: theToyota Tacoma. Toyota will soon boost Tacoma production in Mexico in order to meet strong demand, and this will enable increased Tundra output at its factory in San Antonio, Texas.

"We made some choices… of full-on capacity - what we would be able to build," said Jack Hollis, Toyota Division general manager. "We made some choices as a business entity to push ... Tacoma. That's the fact of the business." A total of 224,128 Tacomas were sold in the US through November, compared to 107,042 Tundras in that same period. Clearly, there's room for Tundra sales growth, and one way to do that is simply to build more.