Toyota Renews as Official Vehicle Partner ASA Speed Truck Challenge
Jay Rutherford, president and series director of the ASA Speed Truck Challenge (ASA STC) announced today that Toyota will once again be the Official Vehicle Partner of the series in 2008.
“Toyota has been our primary vehicle partner for the last couple of years now and we are once again very pleased to have them an integral part of our 2008 season,” said Rutherford. “This year, Toyota will be allocating the use of one of their premier vehicles for our use – a new Toyota Tundra,” continued Rutherford. “We will utilize this new truck for several on and off track purposes; however it will play a large role in pulling our new ASA STC Hospitality/Partner trailer to each of the 2008 races.”
The ASA STC already utilizes the 2006 Toyota Tacoma as its national television at-track pace truck highlighting the entire competitor Speed Truck field for filming prior to the start of every race and the Trophy Dashes. Both the Tacoma and the Tundra have taken the U.S. markets by storm and are selling more units than Chevrolet and Ford combined. “Toyota has moved into the pickup truck market in a big way,” said ASA STC National Marketing Director, Bill McCloud. “They realize that a product partnership investment in our fast-growing series with a national television bonus will start paying nice dividends with fans watching every race and each broadcast. We are excited about their involvement again with us and they are expanding their involvement through Toyota Racing Development (TRD) as the sponsor of one of our races.”
Toyota reports that 2007 sales in the United States continued their 12 consecutive record-breaking statistics, with best-ever year-end sales of 2,620,825 vehicles, up 2.7 percent over 2006. At Toyota, they are constantly working to reduce their impact on the environment. Their Global Earth Charter promotes environmental responsibility across the entire organization. Not just in Toyota products and operations but also through their partnerships with organizations in the communities in which they live and work. Corporately, Toyota has committed itself to responsible manufacturing, its hybrid technologies, and overall “green” operations.
The 2008 Tundra pickup is setting a new standard in ½ - tons; with an available 381-horsepower, 5.7 –liter, V8 engine and comes in a Tundra Regular cab – MSRP $22,290; a Tundra Double cab – MSRP $24,715; and the very popular Tundra CrewMax – MSRP $27,685. Toyota is also presently working on a new diesel version of the Tundra. All-in-all, Toyota has shown the U.S. market that they can be a real player in the pickup industry and stand on their consistency of manufacture, reliability, workmanship, and competitive pricing.
Said Mark Amstock, Toyota’s National SUV Marketing Manager, “We believe in the ASA Speed Truck Challenge series as a grass roots way to promote our truck lines to a public that believes in and are loyal to motorsports. Jay runs a very competitive and proactive marketing program that helps Toyota overall sales. We like that.”
