The new Toyota Tacoma will not debut until May 19, but someone has already found what they claim is the first official photo of the truck on the manufacturer’s website for North America. The model depicted looks like a TRD Pro spec.
The car sports an aggressive exterior with wide wheel arches, a hood scoop and a skid plate. It is pictured skidding on a dirt road, a composition often used by photographers for high-performance pickups and SUVs.
A spy shot has also made it online recently, showing one of the headlights of the upcoming Tacoma, some of its front bumper and a fragment of the front right fender flare.
Compared to the stock model, the Tacoma TRD Pro can be safely expected to get a more powerful engine and revised suspension. Rumor has it the truck will also benefit from adjustable Fox dampers, coil springs instead of leaf springs in the back, and rotor brakes all around.
The manufacturer has already issued a teaser pic hinting that the TRD Pro will be a hybrid vehicle: note the ‘i-Force Max’ badge on the tailgate. The IC engine may come from the latest Tundra top spec, although it could be dialed down slightly. The larger Tundra truck uses a 3.5-liter V6 in tandem with an e-motor for 443 PS (437 hp / 326 kW) and 790 Nm (583 lb-ft) of torque.