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Fords in background of Toyota video

By Robert Schoenberger
rschoenberger@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal


It’s one of the most dramatic commercials for Toyota Motor Co.’s redesigned Tundra pickup. A truck drives up a steep seesaw, towing a heavy load and is able to stop on the way down, despite the extra weight.
Toyota is so proud of the commercial that it posted behind-the-scenes footage to its Web site. That’s where eagle-eyed Ford Motor Co. fans notice something.


Ford trucks can be seen in the background at the job site.
Calls to Toyota U.S. sales and marketing officials in California were not immediately returned this morning.

The first truck visible in the video is a Ranger pickup with a camper shell on it. The next is a Louisville-built F-Series Super Duty truck. As the video’s director watches to see if the Tundra will be able to stop, the truck in the background is another Super Duty.

The background issues underscore the challenge that Toyota faces in launching a truck in a market dominated by Ford and General Motors.

Last year, Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields underscored that issue by driving by the San Antonio, Texas, site where, at the time, Toyota was finishing the plant that builds the new Tundra. As Fields pointed out on a video posted to a Ford-run Web site, most of the trucks on the job site were Fords.

Reporter Robert Schoenberger can be reached at (502) 582-4669.

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