{"id":60613,"date":"2019-03-18T10:53:40","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T17:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=60613"},"modified":"2019-03-18T10:53:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T17:53:40","slug":"big-trucks-a-big-focus-for-big-three-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/big-trucks-a-big-focus-for-big-three-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Trucks a Big Focus for Big Three (and More)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Big
Image courtesy FCA\/Jeep<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toyota, Ford and FCA\/Jeep\u00ae all made major announcements concerning their off-road capable vehicle lines. Toyota announced that three vehicles would receive \u201cthe TRD touch\u201d in what the company calls an \u201coff-road initiative.\u201d Ford announced the return of the midsize Ranger and FCA\/Jeep made several huge announcements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FCA\/Jeep\u00ae Makes Several Announcements Including Plans to Invest Billions<\/h4>\n
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Jeep\u00ae Gladiator
Image courtesy FCA Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of the three major truck brands making big announcements recently, FCA\/Jeep\u00ae made the most announcements and the single biggest announcement of the year so far. FCA\/Jeep\u00ae plans to invest $4.5 billion to expand several plants in Michigan. This investment is expected to create 6500 new jobs and will increase and\/or move Jeep\u00ae vehicle production. It will also go towards electrification of new Jeep models.<\/p>\n

\"Big
Mopar Wrangler 1941
Image courtesy FCA Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeep also announced that the all-new 2020 Jeep\u00ae Gladiator will compete at this year\u2019s Every Man Challenge at the King of the Hammers desert race with Robby Gordon and Erik Miller handling driving chores.<\/p>\n

\"Big
Jeep\u00ae Compass Plug-In Hybrid
Image courtesy FCA Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeep\u00ae introduced their E-Volution line at the Geneva Auto Show. These are electric models of the Renegade and Compass. Another Geneva reveal for Jeep\u00ae was the Wrangler Rubicon 1941, a Wrangler version designed with performance input from Mopar.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Toyota Affirms Commitment to Off-Road Excellence<\/h4>\n
\"Big
Image courtesy Toyota Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toyota recently affirmed their dedication to continuing their dominance of the sport utility\/off-road pickup segment by announcing plans to give several models a new set of \u201cTRD treatments.\u201d These will be both aesthetic and performance treatments. These models are the Rav4, Tacoma, and Sequoia.<\/p>\n

The 2020 Sequoia family will receive a comprehensive TRD Pro Design and Equipment update, including an all-new audio system with Amazon Alexa, Android Auto and Apple Carplay compatibility. It\u2019s also going to get an updated 381 HP 5.7 L V8 and standard Toyota Safety Sense. One of the off-road upgrades it will receive is a Fox Shocks high-tech suspension.<\/p>\n

\"Big
2020 Tacoma TRD Off-Road
Image courtesy Toyota Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2020 Toyota Tacoma is also going to receive a number of TRD upgrades, including the audio package listed above and an optional eight-inch touchscreen. The Tacoma will also receive technical enhancements including Toyota\u2019s Standard Panoramic View (PVM) and Multi-Terrain Monitor (MTM) systems. Each of the various Tacoma trim options will come with their own TRD off-road updates including grille designs, lights, fog lights, 10-way power seats, Crawl Control, Hill Assist and more.<\/p>\n

\"Big
2020 Rav4 TRD Off-Road
Image courtesy Toyota Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Toyota\u2019s sporty Rav4 will also receive a number of presents from TRD. One of these is the new TRD Off-Road Suspension, which was inspired by the Toyota Rally Rav4 race team. The 2020 Rav4 will also be equipped with standard Dynamic Torque Vectoring All-Wheel Drive and Falken Wildpeak A\/T Trail All-Terrain tires on TRD 18-inch Flow-Formed matte black aluminum wheels. Other off-road enhancements include Trailer Sway Control (TSC), Downhill Assist Control (DAC) and a rock and dirt mode for the suspension.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ford Reintroduces the Ranger FX4<\/h4>\n
\"Big
Image courtesy Ford Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The all-new 2019 Ford Ranger, the first Ranger since 2011, has the midsize truck world ablaze with gossip. Ford will pair its 270 HP\/310 lb-ft 2.3-liter EcoBoost\u00ae engine with their class-exclusive 10-speed automatic transmission to give the Ranger best-in-class qualities. The FX4 package includes off-road tuned shocks, Terrain Management System\u2122 with four modes-sand, mud\/ruts, normal, and grass\/gravel\/snow, all-terrain tires and a heavy gauge front bash plate that\u2019s mounted directly to the frame. Another cool innovation they\u2019re including is Trail Control\u2122 which controls torque and braking to each wheel during low-speed trail operating. Long-time action-sports TV personality Pat Parnell said, \u201cAll you have to do is steer – picture it as off-road cruise control.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toyota, Ford and FCA\/Jeep\u00ae all made major announcements recently concerning their off-road capable vehicle lines.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":60620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3470,5470],"tags":[2847,43,364,1074,41,28,516],"class_list":["post-60613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-off-road","tag-fca","tag-ford","tag-jeep","tag-mike-aguilar","tag-news","tag-off-road","tag-toyota"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/NWRenderingOverviewfmm6v05jel6h6bqsp46dgk8iil-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-fLD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60623,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60613\/revisions\/60623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}