OK, they are serious. The truck was developed by the TMS Advanced Product Strategy Group and Calty, Toyota's North American-based research and design center situated down in Newport Beach, California. The mandate was to explore the possibility of incorporating Toyota pickup truck DNA with Land Cruiser heritage, melding the two into the next generation of full-size pickup.

The FTX was developed by the TMS Advanced Product Strategy Group and Calty, Toyota's North American-based research and design center. (Photo: Toyota Canada)

"Toyota has a strong heritage of building trucks that are rugged, yet playful," commented Kevin Hunter, Calty vice president. "This image is especially strong in the U.S., thanks to the FJ Land Cruiser in the '60s and '70s and the phenomenally successful Toyota compact pickup in the '80s and '90s. Our goal with the FTX was to capture the spirit and soul of this legacy and reassert Toyota's truck brand image with a full-size pickup aimed at the very core of the segment."

Many design elements of the FTX have been seen before in other automakers' concepts, but Toyota's is probably the best executed overall. {Photo: Toyota Canada)

And what about the design itself? I find it interesting how past concepts can influence the design language of current styling, no matter what automaker initially came up with the original idea. It's like a breakthrough song with innovative new sounds that literally shapes the next-generation of music for years to come. As it seems Volkswagen was first to show the basic shape for this future pickup styling trend at the Detroit show in 2000 with its Advanced Activity Concept Pickup (AAC), looking similar to the FTX from the rear especially. Chevy offered its curvy Cheyenne concept at last year's Detroit show, albeit not as sporty as Toyota's new FTX. Speaking of sporty, Mitsubishi unveiled its Dodge Dakota-based Sport Truck concept the same day as Toyota's new pickup, a styling exercise that's starting to look familiar.