
The announcement made back in June, the local arm of renowned vehicle importer Rospa, Rospa Imports South Africa, has officially confirmed local pricing details of the right-hand drive converted Toyota Tundra.
Revealed back in 2021, the Tundra has so far only been sold one other right-hand drive market, namely Australia, but with full Toyota backing by former Holden tuner, Walkinshaw Automotive.
For South Africa though, the sales, importation and conversion are done without any support or approval from Toyota South Africa Motors, but does carry a three-year/50 000 km warranty.
“Since the early 1990s, we have carefully re-engineered over 5 000 right-hand drive vehicles for export all over the world. We can now add South Africa to that list through Rospa International, a company that shares our vision and passion,” Autogroup International CEO, Rob Hill, said in a statement.
Based in Durban, the partnership between Rospa and Australian-born Autogroup will see three Tundra derivative being offered; the off-road focused TRD Sport, limited run 1794 Edition and the flagship Capstone.
Up front, all variants will use the twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre badged 3.4-litre V6 from the Land Cruiser 300, but in hybrid i-Force Max guise.
This means the inclusion of an electric motor and battery pack, the former located in the bellhousing of the 10-speed automatic gearbox, which increases power from the non-electrified bent-six’s 290kW/649Nm to 326kW/790Nm.
Apart from the 1794 Edition, both the TRD Pro feature full-time four-wheel drive as standard. The claimed fuel consumption across all models is 10.7 L/100 km.
Based on the TNGA-F platform that underpins not only the Land Cruiser 300, but also the Lexus LX, Tacoma, Sequioa, Land Cruiser Prado and Lexus GX, the double cab-only Tundra has a claimed payload up to 880 kg and the ability to tow 5 443 kg depending on the model.
1794 Edition
Its name referencing a ranch build in 1794 situated on the piece land now home to the Tundra factory in San Antonio, Texas, the 1794 Edition boats 20-inch chrome alloy wheels, a 12-speaker JBL sound system, heated and ventilated front seats, a panoramic sunroof and heated rear seats.
As with the rest of the Tundra range, it comes standard with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and a 14-inch infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Air suspension and Head-Up Display can be specified as cost options.
TRD Pro
Toyota’s rival for the Ford F-150 Raptor in the States, the TRD Pro sports not only revised aesthetics, but also Fox Racing shock absorbers, TRD skidplates, all-terrain tyres, retuned TRD suspension and the Multi-Terrain Select system with Crawl Control derived from the Land Cruiser 300.
Unique interior additions are a TRD steering wheel with red 12 o’clock marking, red stitching on the seats, TRD floor mats, TRD embroidery work on the seat headrests, and a block letter TOYOTA badge on the passenger side dashboard.
Capstone
For the Capstone, the Tundra gets 22-inch polished chrome wheels, electrically deploying side-steps, Capstone badging, a chrome grille and inside, wood accents, semi aniline leather, the mentioned Head-Up Display and acoustic glass.
Price
Aside from the mentioned warranty, spare parts will be flown in from America when needed, with Rospa also stating that local support will come way via “factory-trained technicians based in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban”.
- Tundra i-Force Max 1794 Edition – n/a
- Tundra i-Force Max 1794 Edition 4×4 – n/a
- Tundra i-Force Max TRD Pro 4WD – R3 920 000
- Tundra i-Force Max Capstone 4WD – R4 000 000
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