2022 Tundra Coming Soon — Could a Twin-Turbo V8 Be Under the Hood?

A force-fed V8 could be exactly what the next-gen Toyota Tundra needs to take on the Ford Raptor and Ram TRX.

Today Toyota confirmed that a new Tundra is coming soon… But not much else.

An all-new Tundra is coming soon. Reengineered with uncompromising power and loaded with advanced tech, this body-on-frame beast is eager to hit the road roaring.

Which leaves us time to speculate about what’s going to power this new beast. Especially when they use a word like roaring in the description.

Now let’s back up for a little context. The pandemic caused no shortage of problems for manufactures, and Toyota is no exception. One thing that enthusiasts were looking forward to seeing, but abruptly fell off the radar, was the promise of a new twin-turbo V8 for the long-rumored LC F. As our friends over at Club Lexus reported, race fans were supposed to see it in action at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring back in June, but the cancellation of the race made that impossible.

Since then, we’ve heard precious little about the forced-fed 4.0-liter, which led some folks to speculation that the program might have been shelved. Fortunately, some new patent drawings first spotted over on the GR86 forum seem to indicate that the project is still underway — though we still don’t know when we’ll actually see the new mill in a production car. Given that industry folk are speculating it’ll be good for more than 600 horsepower, the performance potential is obviously exciting.

Now, if you’re familiar with Betteridge’s Law of Headlines, you likely might already be thinking there’s no possibility that the new engine might find its way under the hood of the next-gen Tundra. But given the tremendous amount of dealer excitement surrounding this rig, my gut says there’s a decent chance we’ll actually see it come to fruition.

Of course, it could be wishful thinking on my part, as I’d love to see a weapons-grade Tundra, but since you’re already here, maybe you’ll hear me out.

Basically, my optimism stems from a couple of things, the most important being just hot red-hot the performance truck segment currently is. Right now, Ford and Ram are selling every Raptor and TRX they can roll out of the factory, and that means their dealers are raking in the dough. Toyota dealers obviously want a slice of that market, so you can be sure that there’s some intense lobbying going on behind the scenes to make it happen. And if the past is any guide? Toyota will to listen to its dealers, as feedback from the front lines is why we got a three-row RX as opposed to a convertible RC. Because while the sports coupe was designed with an eventual drop top in mind, dealers rightly assumed they’d be able to move more people movers than sports cars. So the convertible got shelved.

That said, I could be crazy, so let me know what you think about the possibility of a twin-turbo Tundra. Is this a pipe dream, or do you think it’s a real possibility?

Photos: United States Patent and Trademark Office, via GR86

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