Powered by the 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 from the Tundra, this is a custom hot rod build straight from Toyota’s Ann Arbor offices.
The era of the sport truck has long been over. We all remember the Ford F-150 SVT Lightning–Not the EV one, the one that was in The Fast and The Furious–but there were some left-field sport trucks that have been long forgotten. One of the coolest ones came from Toyota, home of the off-roader, and it was called the Tacoma X-Runner. Toyota is reviving the name for a hot-rodded 2024 Tacoma concept (one of many) being shown at the SEMA show next week.
While no official images have been released, Toyota released part one of its build process on its YouTube channel. It’s no mere concept, either. It’s a collaboration between Toyota’s Calty Design Center and Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Calty undertook the design of the lowered street truck while the Technical Center figured out how to slam the lifted 2024 Tacoma to the ground. But the real kicker is that the truck uses the 389-horsepower 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 from the Tundra, making this X-Runner ultra spicy.
According to Toyota, the truck was originally drafted by a member of the Calty Ann Arbor team as a production-intent truck, but it got shelved in the design process. It was recently revived and put forward for a SEMA build showcasing what it could look like. It uses TRD Pro flares for extra width, and is slammed on 21-inch wheels with carbon fiber barrels. Helping to add extra width are Tundra control arms, while the truck sits on air suspension for height adjustability.
Of course, the history of the X-Runner is short but glorious. It was sold from 2005 to 2015 as part of the second-generation Tacoma. It was named X-Runner for its X-shaped chassis bracing, used lowered suspension with Bilstein dampers, came standard with a six-speed manual, and only came in rear-wheel drive. It was a bizarre truck that is now a bizarre cult classic.
While trucks have definitely gone in the direction of ruggedness and off-road capability since the Ford F-150 Raptor made its debut, there’s still love for the sport truck. More details will be released in the run-up to SEMA, but this X-Runner concept is definitely a sick truck.
