Toyota Canada can’t bring Canadian TV viewers to the mountains, so it’s bringing the mountains to them.
The automaker’s 2014 Tundra pick-up is being prominently featured in the third season of the Discovery Canada reality series Highway Thru Hell. The show chronicles the activities of Jamie Davis Heavy Rescue, which keeps the highway in B.C.’s Cascade Mountains clear by removing oversize wrecks.
Four Tundras – two TRD Double Cabs and two TRD CrewMax – will serve as the company’s “incident response” units, the first vehicles in the rescue fleet to arrive at the scene of an accident. They will carry safety equipment and also a place for stranded motorists to get warm.
Toyota was unable to accommodate interview requests, but vice-president Stephen Beatty said in a release that the show provides an opportunity to showcase the Tundra’s “reliability and ruggedness” in the toughest road conditions.
Toyota first began sponsoring Highway Thru Hell last season.
Toyota reported its third straight monthly increase for truck sales in July, with sales for its RAV4, Tundra, Highlander and 4Runner brands achieving a new sales record of 8,785 units, up from 8,223 in 2013.
The company said it sold 883 Tundra 4X4 and 4X2 units, up from 505 units in the corresponding year-earlier period. Year-to-date sales of the Tundra at the end of July were 6,053, up from 3,686 in year-earlier period.
