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Up Close and Personal With Toyota’s Ultimate Utility Vehicle

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2015 SEMA Toyota Ultimate Utility Vehicle

Toyota’s Ultimate Utility Vehicle

Back in June, Toyota introduced a brand-new, one-of-a-kind vehicle to take part in its North American Ever-Better Expedition. The Ultimate Utility Vehicle (UUV) would travel the continent, allowing real Toyota employees to gain important knowledge—both from their own experiences and from talking to others—that would help them make future Toyota vehicles better than ever before.

More recently, the UUV made an appearance at the 2015 SEMA Show in Las Vegas. While there, Toyota was kind enough to share some of the vehicle’s specs.

The UUV was created by molding the body of a Sienna minivan to the chassis of a Tacoma truck. The odd-looking vehicle received numerous body upgrades, such as an N-FAB custom bumper, custom front and rear door skins, a custom rear bumper, suicide front doors, motorized rear doors, a custom roof rack with LED bar, an N-FAB custom winch mount, and an N-FAB custom side step.

The Toyota UUV rides on 22×12-inch Monster Energy off-road wheels. The engine received a TRD supercharger upgrade to help it power through North America’s varying terrain. The UUV is also fitted with a Wilwood big brake upgrade. Varying suspension upgrades allow for 15.750 inches of wheel travel and help keep the UUV stable and steady both on- and off-road.

Inside, the UUV features custom laptop mounts, custom LED flat screens in the rear, a custom dashboard, and custom interior panels. It also includes a Flir M-324xp night vision camera system with HD recording.

The UUV will never see the inside of a dealership (unless it encounters one on its journey), but it’s a great example of the kind of off-road monster that Toyota is capable of making.