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37 Japan to meet up with the Toyota Motor Corporation "master driver" who is the leading driver in all of Toyota when it comes to of-road driving. There is only one of-road master driver in all of Toyota. So, Sweers recalls, they went to a ranch fve hours south of Toyota City to drive developmental vehicles. Sweers asked the master where the trailhead was. The master said, "Here." It didn't look like one to Sweers. "Where's the trail?" The master pointed up the mountain and said, "Go." So Sweers climbed into the develop- ment truck. Eight anxiety-ridden hours later . . . That Zen-like experience notwithstand- ing, there is something that's a little bit more earthy about the brief for the development of the 2016 Tacoma: in Sweers' words, "Make it bad-ass." While most new product presentations would make it sound as though whatever vehicle it is was developed for a highly educated, reasonably afuent group of men and women, there is something diferent—signifcantly diferent—about the Tacoma. Erickson says they've been "steadfast in our dedication to the midsize pickup" in the U.S. market. Realize that Ford dropped out; the Ram Dakota went out of production in 2011; GM dropped out for model years 2013 and 2014. But Nissan has stayed in the category. Erickson says that the target market consists of young, adventure seeking males. He points out that more than 40% of Tacomas are TRD models—that's as in "Toyota Racing Development," which has been slamming the trucks in of-road activities for some 35 years. (For the 2016 Tacoma there are two TRD-designated models, the TRD Sport and the TRD Of-Road, and Erickson says they anticipate about 52% of sales of the '16 models to be the TRD models.) Sweers says 45% of Tacoma owners go of-road. The 2016 Tacoma is frst in class ofering a GoPro mount on the windshield. And while the truck, when equipped with the V6 Tow Package, can tow up to 6,800 lb. per the SAE J2807 standard, and while when people talk about pickup trucks they generally are all about the cargo and towing capacities, when it comes to towing, Erickson says that comes in 22nd on the list of reasons for purchase for the Tacoma. It's more about what it can do of the road rather than what it can do on it. So to that end, they've a suite of technologies specifcally developed for of-roading. Such as a "Multi-Terrain Select" system that permits selecting terrain conditions (loose rock, mud and sand); wheel spin is regulated by throttle and brake pressure to achieve traction. There is a locking rear diferential, hill-start assist, active traction control, and crawl control. u This is the Tacoma TRD Sport model. The Tacoma has been the segment leader in mid-size pickups for years. One of the reasons is that many of the guys—yes, primarily males—who buy the trucks do so not because of what it can tow or haul, but what they can do with it banging it around of road. t Mike Sweers, chief engineer for the Toyota Tacoma mid-size pickup. He's also the chief engineer for the Toyota Tundra full-size pickup. Yes, this is a man who knows a lot about engineering trucks. of incentive cash on the hood (or in the bed; there are 5-ft and 6-ft boxes available). This would particularly be the case when suddenly there are two brand-new entries in the midsize space, in the form of the Chevrolet Colorado and the GMC Canyon. But Erickson says that this is not the case. They're straight-up selling Tacomas. And it is now, as it has been, the segment leader. Segment leader as in having about half of the market. That is, through June 2015, U.S. deliveries of the Tacoma were 88,801, according to Autodata ( motorintelligence.com ). Colorado came in at 41,575, the Nissan Frontier at 34,805, and the GMC Canyon at 15,017. Which gives the Tacoma—older than any of its competitors—49.3% of the market. So the new one is a long time coming. They went to work at the Calty design studios in Newport Beach, California, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. They went to work at the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor. And they went to work at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX) in San Antonio and Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Baja California (TMMBC) in Baja California, Mexico. And now your eight-hours of Zen: Mike Sweers says that during the de- velopment of the Tacoma, he went to