Toyota Could Be Readying To Build A Maverick-Fighting Small Truck In Texas

In retrospect, it’s wild that Toyota allowed Ford to take an evolution of a hybrid system they developed together and put it in a small truck before Toyota did. The Japanese automaker sells more hybrid models in the United States than anyone else and, yet, the Maverick was there first.

It’s possible Toyota is planning to rectify this with a new plant in Texas, which new reporting shows is at least being pitched. What’s going to be there? I’ve got a guess. Also, Jason is still on a Lexus drive this morning, so if they confront him about a theory in The Morning Dump over pancakes, well, it’s not me having to deal with it.

Ford deserves credit for reinvigorating a market with the excellent Ford Maverick, though shareholders were a little more interested in who deserves blame for the EV redirection. While Toyota is expanding in the United States, Volkswagen is planning to shrink in Germany. You know who doesn’t love this plan? Volkswagen’s labor unions.

And, finally, could the Freelander come to the UK? JLR seems curiously fine with it.

What Is Project Orca?

Here’s a fun one. Automotive News snagged some information from the Texas Comptroller that identified Toyota’s intent to build a new plant for something called “Project Orca.”

Full details of the project, codenamed “Project Orca,” remain largely undisclosed, including what vehicles it would build. However, the automaker’s application seeking state and local tax incentives indicates that the new assembly plant would add an estimated 2,000 jobs to Toyota’s current complex in Bexar County, near San Antonio.

If the project is approved, it would become the automaker’s sixth U.S. assembly plant when output begins in 2030.

The automaker’s 2.2-million-square-foot Texas assembly plant builds the full-size, body-on-frame Toyota Sequoia SUV and Toyota Tundra pickup. It has more than 3,700 direct employees on-site, along with another 5,600 working at various suppliers on the campus. Toyota also recently built a $531 million axle plant on-site.

Hmm… what could it be? Toyota makes the Tundra in Texas, which means it avoids the Chicken Tax. The company’s other truck, the Tacoma, is now made entirely in Mexico. And the 4Runner is made in Japan.

Toyota is basically out of manufacturing capacity in the United States. The Tacoma could come back to Texas, which would make a sort of sense. I doubt Toyota is going to sacrifice a Japanese plant to build the 4Runner here.

Tacoma aside, I do think there’s another opportunity here for Toyota. It’s sort of wild that Toyota, which expanded in America with small trucks, doesn’t have a RAV4-based hybrid truck to compete against the Maverick, right?

The above Toyota EPU compact truck was an EV concept from 2023, and while I doubt an EV truck is in the cards (although, actually, Ford is building one…), a hybrid makes sense. That concept is also right-sized, as we wrote:

This electric pickup truck measures just 199.6 inches from stem to stern. That’s within a tenth of an inch of the Ford Maverick, and a few inches longer than the Hyundai Santa Cruz. Roughly 200 inches is about as short as you can go with a traditional crew cab pickup truck and still have a usable bed, yet a vehicle of that length should still fit in the majority of parking spots.

This was actually addressed earlier this year by Toyota Motor North America CEO Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa in an interview with Automotive News:

Dealers have been asking for many years for a compact pickup to return and also suggested a small commercial van. Are those opportunities for Toyota?

There is, of course, some opportunity for us in the commercial area, but it is new to us. We need to study more. But for the compact truck? Definitely, we have such demand. A RAV4-based pickup is an opportunity for us, and the dealers are waiting. Maybe they say we need today or tomorrow, but it takes time.

As a Texan, I believe the ideal breakfast taco order is potato, egg, and cheese, and I believe all trucks should be made in Texas.

Here’s How Ford Explains The Company’s Tough Year

Ford CEO Jim Farley and Chairman Bill Ford faced investors yesterday and, given the kind of insane world we’re in right now, those investors were curious how to interpret all of the big write-downs for EV projects, as well as tariffs.

The Detroit Free Press has a write up on the call, but this struck me.

Q: Ford posted a large net loss in 2025 and took a massive write-down for unsuccessful investments; where’s the accountability?

Bill Ford answered the question saying: “I think taking the write-down was exactly the accountable thing. The regulations changed virtually overnight on us, and when that happened, we could have chosen to do nothing and limped along, but we took what we thought was the right shareholder action, which was to recognize that the market had changed dramatically. We took the write-down, so that going forward, you’d have a much healthier business as shareholders. We believe that’s happening.”

Bill Ford said the company was able to find usage for some of the factories it had built initially to make EV batteries, but when it become clear EV demand would not require that much factory space, it still found a use for them by starting Ford Energy, its subsidiary that will make battery energy storage systems.

“Look, no one likes to take a write-down, but it was the accountable thing to do recognizing that the business reality had changed,” Ford said. “Rather than hope that that wouldn’t happen, we took decisive action and now you have a profitable business going forward, which I think you’re gonna be very proud of.”

[Ed Note: I’m excited for Ford’s EV strategy going forward. With that said: I understand that there were lots of regulatory pressures, both from the Federal government and from California, but I am not convinced that the changing regs are what flipped a switch on demand. I think automakers — not just Ford, but pretty much everyone (less so Toyota)— got caught up in the hype, and maybe got a bit worried about falling behind, leading them to make what seems now like an obvious mistake: They developed products without the #1 consideration being: Are people actually going to buy these cars? Again, the regulatory penalties are real, but if I had to guess, even if the administration hadn’t changed, there’d be write-downs all across the industry. -DT]

Ford hasn’t entirely abandoned EVs, and has a big project coming in the form of the UEV, which the company’s leaders are excited about. If that works out for Ford, investors will benefit greatly, but it’s not a small if.

VW’s Union Still Considers Plant Closings A ‘Red Line’

Volkswagen seems to have a good idea of which plants need to go in order to make up for its massive overcapacity. Volkswagen’s main union, though, doesn’t see that idea as very good.

Per Reuters:

VW is looking to cut excess capacity in its German production network without resorting to factory closures — something ruled out under a 2024 restructuring deal with unions — with defense partnerships and Chinese collaboration floated as possible options.

The head of the powerful works council, Daniela Cavallo, IG Metall union head Christiane Benner and regional union leader Thorsten Groeger said that the 2024 deal and its commitment to German plants must not be called into question.

“The fundamental situation has not changed — nor have the red lines set by the employee side,” they said. “With us as the general works council and IG Metall, there will be no plant closures.”

The most likely outcome here is that Volkswagen finds something else to do with these plants (bombs) or finds someone else to operate it (a Chinese company). In a way, the two potential outcomes uncomfortably mirror two not entirely impossible futures. A Volkswagen plant could either be making munitions for a potential war in China, or be given over to a Chinese automaker.

The Freelander 8 Could Be Sold In The UK

Thomas made a good point earlier this week when he wrote about how the Chery-built, JLR-licensed Freelander 8 may be the first ‘retro’ design from the 2000s. My assumption was that vehicle would only be sold in China.

According to this Autocar article, it might actually come to the UK or, at least, JLR is fine with it:

Freelander CEO Wen Fei previously said that any cars exported to Europe wouldn’t be adapted Chinese-market models but instead bespoke derivatives tailored to each market’s demands.

Asked if JLR would give Chery its blessing to sell Freelanders here, given that the British company owns the brand name, Balaji said that “it’s Chery’s car” and JLR would “let them make up their mind”.

He added: “The car will be sold primarily in China to begin with, and then they will have to decide their plans for bringing it out to the rest of the world.

This makes a sort of sense. Land Rover is positioned at the high end of the market, as is Jaguar. There’s no competition at the lower end, and JLR gets a cut, so maybe everyone wins.

What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD

There’s a new Beck song called “Ride Lonesome” and it sounds like Beck hasn’t lost a step. Also, I think I know where this video was shot.

The Big Question

What would you want a Toyota small truck to look like?

Top photo: Toyota