Toyota welcomes Tacoma rivals back to the fold

LOS ANGELES — Six years ago, Ford Motor Co. and FCA US abandoned the midsize pickup segment. Toyota remained to happily soak up the customers its rivals had left behind.

Now the two Detroit automakers are returning — Ford with a new Ford Ranger and FCA with a new Jeep Gladiator — and they're getting a warm welcome from Jack Hollis, general manager of Toyota Division.

Hollis rolled out the welcome mat for the Ranger and Gladiator, despite acknowledging that their re-entry into the hot segment is likely to cost his dominant Tacoma some market share. Not to worry, Hollis said.

The Tacoma has led the segment for years. Through the first 11 months of 2018, Toyota has sold 224,128 Tacomas in the U.S., more than 100,000 units ahead of its closest rival, the Chevrolet Colorado. None of the segment's other three entries — the Nissan Frontier, GMC Canyon and Honda Ridgeline — are close to the Tacoma or Colorado in terms of sales.

Hollis said Toyota is counting on the stick-to-it strategy that succeeded with the Tacoma to work in the declining sedan market, too.

"In bigger segments, like [midsize pickup] or even midsize car or subcompact car, it's always interesting to me," Hollis said. "The lesson we learned on Tacoma is we stayed in there when everybody else wanted to abandon it, and we just took a huge market share, and we're the leaders in that today. I'm proud of that."

Hollis said the introduction of the Ranger and Gladiator in early 2019 will further motivate Toyota to improve the Tacoma.

"Whenever new competitors come in, you always want to be the best," Hollis said. Any new competitor "makes us want to be better and keep looking for ways to improve. That's part of the Toyota DNA."