For a while now, about five years, Toyota has had the midsize truck mostly to itself. Suddenly, things have changed, however, thanks to GM unleashing a pair of freshly redesigned pickups, the GMC Canyon and the Chevy Colorado. Toyota plans to debut it's 2016 Tacoma midsize pickup at the upcoming Detroit auto show. Stepping up it's game against GM, Toyota said "Let's take it to the next level" in a statement. "The all-new 2016 Tacoma will be ready to once again set the benchmark for midsize pickup performance," Toyota followed. "Backed by a heritage of unwavering capability, an unbreakable attitude and new, rugged tech, Tacoma's off-road prowess is more formidable than ever."The midsize segment has not seem much competition for nearly a decade. The market was mostly served by Toyota's Tacoma, and the Nissan Frontier, after Ram and Ford abandoned it. They claimed that there was weak demand since full size trucks were improving in the area of fuel economy. Still, 230,000 midsize trucks were sold in 2013, 160,000 of them the Toyota Tacoma; and GM is wanting to share Toyota's piece of the pie.

Toyota is recalling about 50,000 Tundras due to a problem with the rear axle. Nuts on the axle assembly could loosen over time.

Toyota has issued a first recall of its brand-new bZ4X EV to deal with a loose wheel-hub bolt issue. The recall affects some 2,700 units. Subaru has followed suit with a similar recall of some 2,600 units of its Solterra EV. In both cases, few if any of the models had actually made their way into buyers’ hands yet.

Speculation has Toyota working on a performance version of its bZ4X SUV under the GR (Gazoo Racing) banner dedicated to racing and automotive performance, with other models possibly to come as well.