Oh no, there’s bad news for those waiting for a compact Toyota truck to arrive. The automaker doesn’t think there’s enough demand in the segment to bother with building one right now. Basically, it’s letting the Ford Maverick rule unopposed for now. 

Toyota claims the compact truck segment is too small 

Sorry to ruin your compact Toyota truck dreams. It’s time to forget about the rumors of a new Toyota Stout coming to battle the insanely popular Ford Maverick. 

Toyota COO Mark Templin tells drivers to ‘be patient’. The automaker will build compact trucks when it makes more sense for the market. At the moment, hitting a price point between $25,000 to $30,000 would be difficult. 

Templin urges dealerships and fans to wait for more favorable conditions. The entire segment is limited to about 160,000 to 170,000 units right now. There’s not enough space for another compact truck to do well against the Maverick. 

This is part of the reason why the Hyundai Santa Cruz is being discontinued and replaced by a mid-size truck. But the Santa Cruz never provided a hybrid powertrain. According to Pickup Truck Talk, Toyota could easily make a small hybrid truck that gets 40 mpg. 

The Maverick sold 155,501 trucks in 2025 with record sales growth. Templin says it’s reached its peak. Also, with the Tacoma also experiencing excellent sales growth, the company doesn’t need a smaller option right now. 

But come on. Toyota has a much better reputation for building trucks than Hyundai. A truck based on the RAV4 would arguably fare better than the Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, we will have to wait and see how things go.