Teijin Automotive Technologies to produce pickup box for next-gen Toyota Tundra

Teijin Automotive Technologies (formerly Continental Structural Plastics, Auburn Hills, Mich., U.S.) has announced that it is manufacturing the pickup boxes for the next-generation 2022 Toyota Tundra pickup truck. These boxes are being produced at the company’s new facility in Seguin, Texas.

The Tundra pickup box is molded in one piece using one of Teijin Automotive Technologies’ proprietary composite formulations. The box is available in three lengths — 5.5 feet, 6.5 feet and 8 feet 1 inch — and with optional lighting features. The company is also producing the tailgate covers out of composites, which will be assembled onto the boxes along with the D-pillar prior to shipment to Toyota’s (Aichi, Japan) manufacturing facility in San Antonio, Texas. Full production on the pickup box began in November 2021.

The molding and assembly process used by the team at Seguin is said to closely mimic that used by Teijin Automotive Technologies at its facility in Tijuana, Mexico, where it has been manufacturing the pickup boxes for the Toyota Tacoma since 2004. Since the start of production, Teijin Automotive Technologies has produced more than two million composite pickup boxes for the Tacoma program.

“The opportunity to produce the pickup box for the highly anticipated next-generation Tundra is something we were honored and excited to get,” Steve Rooney, CEO of Teijin Automotive Technologies and general manager of Teijin’s Composites Business Unit, says. “We have been providing exceptional quality and on-time delivery to Toyota out of our Tijuana facility for more than 17 years. This new program will enable us to further solidify our relationship with this important customer and at the same time showcase the qualities composites offer for pickup boxes and other applications.”

According to the company, composite pickup boxes offer consumers optimized durability — they don’t dent or ding, won’t rust and eliminate the need for a bedliner, thus saving weight.

Teijin Automotive Technologies broke ground on the new Seguin facility in 2019. The now completed 200,000 square-foot facility includes fully automated production cells and several large compression molding presses — including a 5,200-ton press. The facility also features a topcoat paint line, and automated bonding and trimming cells. It employs approximately 200 people in engineering, administrative and production positions.