Toyota is missing out by not selling the little $13,000 truck Americans want in the US
Americans love pickup trucks. I know, the obvious statement of the year, right? If ever you had doubts about the level to which Americans love trucks, you need only look at a list of the best-selling vehicles in the country. It’s dominated by SUVs but even more so by pickup trucks. But that doesn’t mean that every American car buyer wants a cripplingly expensive truck. And Toyota may be missing out by not peddling its forbidden, cheap small truck here in the United States.
Want a small Toyota truck for $13,000? You might have to move to Thailand, because we’re not getting it here
A lengthy enough trip outside of the United States will reveal a myriad of seemingly alien automotive nameplates. Pandas, and Maloos, and Seals, oh my! But one of the oft-seen models we simply don’t get here in the good ol’ US of A is the Toyota Hilux. It may, in some specs, look suspiciously similar to the US-market Tacoma. However, American buyers are straight-up missing out on the budget-friendly foreign-market small Toyota truck offering: the Hilux Champ.
The Toyota Hilux Champ just went on sale in Thailand, and the prices should have bargain-hunting American truck fans salivating. In Thailand, buyers will be able to scoop up the Hilux Champ for a starting price tag of just under 500,000 baht. That’s right around $13,000, cheaper than any car, in any segment in the United States by a wide margin.
Frankly, you can option-out your little Toyota truck, and, at top spec, the price won’t exceed $16,500. Mind you, that’s still cheaper than the soon-to-be-discontinued Nissan Versa, the cheapest new car on the US market for 2025. Of course, you can’t expect much with a price tag that low. It’s white, gray, or silver. It’s a spartan application. But it’s also accurate advertising. Essentially, what you see is what you get. Bring the cheap little truck on down to the US, Toyota.
Better yet, the current Thai-market Hilux Champ is something of a canvas. As it stands, owners can load the low-clearance bed and accomplish all sorts of tasks. With not a lot of tampering, however, owners can transform the Hilux Champ into a utility van or RV. Still coming in well below the asking prices of the cheapest trucks on the market in the US.
