Toyota Barking Up The Wrong Tree with A-Bat
Posted by: David Kiley on January 9, 2008

Toyota will show its A-Bat truck concept at next week’s North American International Auto Show. It is a small hybrid concept.
It’s small, of course, because Toyota’s two-mode hybrid system is not suitable for a full-size truck like the Tundra. What baffles me about this exercise is how much the A-Bat reminds me of the Honda Ridgeline in its design. Only smaller.
I know it’s a concept. But concepts are supposed to excite the media and show-goers. Who greenlighted the brief that called for a hybrid concept in a small truck (the next Tacoma?), a market niche that doesn’t exist and never will…and then make it look like a truck that Honda can’t give away to customers if it put $3,000 worth of bacon in the rear bed.
Somebody’s cheese is slipping off their cracker at Toyota.







