2022 Toyota Tundra pick-up teaser hints at hybrid twin-turbo V6

The 2022 Toyota Tundra full-size pick-up – Toyota’s rival for the Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado, currently not offered in Australia – could launch with the option of hybrid twin-turbo V6 power, according to a new teaser.

A sole image released by Toyota’s US arm appears to show the new Tundra’s engine cover, wearing the Japanese brand’s emblem and a plaque reading “i-Force MAX” – a name first trademarked by Toyota in 2020, and an evolution of the “i-Force” name applied to the outgoing Tundra’s 5.7-litre V8.

While the engine’s identity has yet to be confirmed, the teaser bears a strong resemblance to the engine cover used atop the 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged petrol V6 used by the recently-revealed Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series (below) – a vehicle with which the Tundra is expected to share its new TNGA-F body-on-frame underpinnings.

Three ribbed sections can be seen on the left-hand side of the cover, above the filler cap – which, if mirrored on the opposite side, would serve as a visual clue that the engine hiding beneath is indeed a V6.

MORE: 2022 Toyota Tundra pick-up teased, is it one step closer to Australia?

Some online have pointed out the blue outline around the “MAX” logo – a motif of Toyota’s hybrid badging – and suggested the orange region seen behind the engine cover represents high-voltage electrical cabling. This indicates the teaser could be previewing a hybrid powertrain for Toyota’s new full-size ute.

Given the vehicles’ shared platforms, it’s likely a potential hybrid twin-turbo petrol V6 option in the Tundra would be used as the basis for a hybrid LandCruiser, due to launch around 2025.

Power and torque outputs have yet to be confirmed, however Toyota North American sales boss recently confirmed in an interview with Motor Trend the Tundra’s base engine will be “substantially more powerful” than the outgoing 284kW/544Nm 5.7-litre V8, while the optional powertrain is set to “incorporate a new technology” that will “blow you away”.

Set to be unveiled in full in the coming weeks, the next-generation Tundra’s adoption of the new LandCruiser’s platform removes a number of the barriers preventing the development of a right-hand drive (RHD) model, and opens to the door to an Australian launch for the first time.

Above: An earlier 2022 Toyota Tundra teaser released in May.

However, while its platform might be capable of factory right-hand drive, it remains to be seen whether Toyota will invest the necessary engineering resources to develop a right-hook version of the new Tundra – and using past US Toyota models as a guide, any potential RHD Tundra could be a few years away.

For more on the prospects of a right-hand drive Tundra for Australia, click here to read our earlier teaser story.

Stay tuned to CarAdvice for the new 2022 Toyota Tundra’s full reveal, expected to occur in the coming weeks or months.

MORE: Tundra news stories
MORE: Everything Toyota

Below: How the new Toyota Tundra could look, as rendered by digital illustrator Ali Angorani