Well, I did a thing. I put money down and placed an order for my next vehicle…a 2022 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road.
I’ve been a MINI-owner for nearly 20 years now, but it’s time for me to move on. Everything about the Toyota Tacoma is a completely different automotive direction for me, but I am excited about it.
May 23, 2022: A little over 6-months after putting a deposit down, I officially have a new Toyota Tacoma.
May 22, 2022: My Tacoma has arrived at the dealer. I drove by this afternoon, and she is sitting in a service bag being prepped.
May 9, 2022: I received confirmation my Tacoma has been loaded on a train and departed the BNSF San Diego facility on May 6, en route to BNSF Logistics Park Chicago. A little research indicates the BNSF train will take the Southern Transcon, a trans-continental railroad roughly 2,060 miles long between southern California and Chicago. It appears these freight trains travel roughly 180 miles/day (give or take)…an complete the journey in about 12 days.
May 3, 2022: Looking at my Toyota dealer’s website, I found my truck and my permanent VIN. In looking at Toyota’s V-Spec site, my truck has moved from status “A” (allocated) to “F” (freight).
May 2, 2022: My pre-production VIN no longer appears in Toyota’s V-Spec site…so my Tacoma has been built! Finally! I should find out from my Toyota dealer in the next few days what my permanent VIN is, and then get a better idea of when it will arrive.
April 26, 2022: My Tacoma was indeed set for for production this week at Toyota’s Baja California production facility. At some point this week, my Tacoma should be built and Toyota will assign it a permanent VIN. At that point I should get a rough idea of when it will arrive. If I had to guess though, I would think late-May is realistic.
April 6, 2022: Well, rumors of Toyota suspending Tacoma production are not exactly true. After reaching out to my Toyota dealer, the Sales Manager I’ve been working with relayed that Toyota has cut production by 20% because of a supplier issue. I’m guessing the “supplier issue” is related to microchips, because isn’t everything related to microchips these days? My Tacoma is now scheduled for production the week of April 25, so hopefully that sticks.
March 28, 2022: Rumor has it Toyota is suspending Tacoma production until late-April, possibly due to microchip shortages stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine supplies some 50% of the world’s Neon (Ne), which is used in microchip production, and the ongoing war has drastically reduced the supply of Neon. With my Tacoma was scheduled for production the week of April 4 I’m not sure what this means, but I am hoping for some clarity in the coming days.
March 3, 2022: Received some good news from my dealer…a pre-production VIN has been issued! My Tacoma is officially on the grid! The build/allocation has been approved by Toyota, and is scheduled for a week 14 build (the week of April 4). In this utterly insane car market, there is still plenty that can change, but it seems like things are heading in the right direction. With any luck, maybe my new Tacoma will arrive by mid/late April. Maybe.
