Toyota Tundra's slow sales blamed on lack of awareness

Toyota Australia says limited public awareness is holding back sales of the Tundra, with many buyers still unaware the US-built pickup is now officially sold through local dealers.

After six years of planning and development, the Tundra finally landed in Australian showrooms at the end of 2024 with a starting price of $155,990 before on-road costs.

Shipped from the US to Australia and converted from left- to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw Automotive Group in Melbourne, it was positioned to take on the likes of the Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, and Ford F-150 in the full-size pickup segment.

However, the Tundra has struggled to gain a foothold against its American-brand rivals. Toyota delivered 837 examples in 2025 – the Tundra's first full year on sale – which represented just 9.6 per cent of full-size pickup sales.

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Toyota's cut of the full-size pickup pie has improved to 10.5 per cent this year, at least to the end of May, although Chevrolet, Ram, and Ford continue to dominate the segment.

From Toyota's perspective, the Tundra's struggles are best attributed to low public recognition.

"We had to relaunch the vehicle this year. We called it a relaunch, because frankly, we didn't have very strong awareness of the Tundra being in market as a genuine Toyota model through our dealer network," Toyota Australia sales, marketing and franchise operations vice president John Pappas told CarExpert.

"When you asked the person on the street about the Tundra, through our research we were finding that the majority of people thought that it was still a grey import, and that's a big problem for us because we've invested a lot of time, resources, and money into Tundra development."

Grey import cars are vehicles legally imported from another country through channels outside of a manufacturer's official, authorised distribution network. The majority of grey imports into Australia are used vehicles from Japan, although American imports are also common.

While not mentioned by Mr Pappas, high pricing could also be a sticking point for prospective buyers.

At launch, the Tundra was priced alongside the short-wheelbase Ram 1500 Limited, although it was around $15,000 more expensive than the F-150 Lariat. Similarly, Toyota’s entry came in well above the Silverado 1500.

No adjustments were made throughout 2025, which only saw the introduction of a new flagship Platinum variant carrying a $17,000 premium.

Yet, just two months ago Toyota made the move to substantially discount new and demonstrator examples of the Tundra built up to July 31, 2025 by between $18,903 (Limited) and $19,413 (Platinum) for NSW customers, despite boasting it didn’t offer discounts on its popular RAV4 as it transitioned to a new-generation model early this year.

The end of financial year (EOFY) offer was slated to expire at the end of June, but has now been extended for at least a further month.

However, Mr Pappas won't commit to permanent price reductions across the Tundra range. Instead, Toyota expects recent marketing initiatives to boost demand.

"We've just got to make sure we clear any of our older plated vehicles in order for us to have a normal environment," he said.

"We've spent a lot on our marketing to elevate the awareness of Tundra.

"So we've identified that now, particularly through our dealers, we're getting a lot more enquiries... which is not what we were getting at the start of the year, because the awareness wasn't there."

Should prices revert from August, the base Tundra will cost around $40,000 more than the most affordable F-150, $20,000 more than the entry-level Silverado 1500, and around $14,000 more than the cheapest Ram 1500. 

MORE: Explore the Toyota Tundra showroom