Toyota Is Reportedly Building a Raptor-Rivaling Tundra That Will Likely Be Called the TRD Hammer

• Toyota is serious about building a Ford F-150 Raptor competitor out of the Tundra, with a new trademark suggesting that the truck has now been given a name.

• The Drive uncovered a trademark application from Toyota that looks to be the high-performance pickup's new name: TRD Hammer.

• The name originated from a survey sent to Tundra owners that detailed a hypothetical truck with 37-inch tires, a long-travel suspension, and a powerful engine.

We may not have to wait much longer for Toyota to launch a competitor to desert racers such as the Ford F-150 Raptor and the Ram 1500 TRX. That's because Toyota recently submitted an interesting trademark application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), suggesting the automaker is getting closer to announcing a more aggressive pickup, as uncovered by The Drive.

Filed on March 10 by the Toyota Motor Corporation, the application seeks to trademark the name "TRD Hammer" under the international class covering automobiles. On its own, the name TRD Hammer could be for anything. Perhaps Toyota is planning to sell TRD-branded mallets to brand loyalists—ya never know! Thankfully, the trademark application isn't the first we've seen of the TRD Hammer name.

A February post on the Tundras.com owners' forum, also shared by The Drive, shows a survey sent to Tundra owners polling them on new names for a future product. The survey asked owners to rank the names—which included TRD Baja, TRD Iron, TRD Pro-S, TRD Hammer, TRD Bizurk, and TRD Quake— in order of preference. A description sent along with the survey described a hypothetical new pickup truck.

The description read: "This high-performance truck package is designed for off-road enthusiasts, featuring an engineered long-travel suspension and 37-inch all-terrain tires. With the truck's unique wide fenders, high-clearance bumpers, and a powerful engine, it achieves exceptional off-road capability and performance."

That sure sounds like the sort of truck that would compete with desert runners like the Raptor and TRX, though it could be more in line with a rock-crawler such as the Chevy Silverado ZR2.

Toyota did not immediately respond to a request from Car and Driver for comment on the trademark application. Still, if the trademark spawns a production model, we might not have to wait much longer for more information on the hi-po off-road Tundra now that it's got a name.

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