The end of the V8, regardless of where its used, is a sad thing to us petrol heads. This time, however, it’s the turn of the UR-series eight-cylinder engine to head toward the light. The end of the engine series was detailed in a report by The Drive who spoke to a source with knowledge of the manufacturing operations.
An anonymous source speaking to the publication has indicated that the Huntsville, Alabama plant in the United States is in the midst of pre-building 30,000 extra V8 engines over the next year plus as stockpile for the models that need it. Thereafter, the V8 assembly line will be retooled to build boosted V6 GR-series mills.
While the V8 assembly line in Huntsville is being converted, production of the bent-eight engine will continue at the marque’s other plant in Tahara, Japan. The source claims that the Japanese assembly line for the V8 will only last for as long as it takes for the Huntsville assembly line to come back online.
At which point, the Japanese assembly line will cease to mass produce the eight-banger. Interestingly, those plants in the United States and Japan, are the only places in the world that produce Toyota V8 engines. Sadly though, for the V8, this is the beginning of the end. That said, if this story has made you melancholy for a V8 just like it has this author, head down over to our Showroom and get the best deal on your dream V8-powered car.
In the US, Toyota employs the large-displacement V8 for service in its full-size offerings such as the Sequoia, Tundra and Land Cruiser. Us Australians will certainly recognise the latter. Now, just like all mass production efforts, you can’t just flip a switch and kill the whole program in one sitting. This at the very least, buys us some time before we truly see the end of mass-produced V8-powered Toyota’s.
Furthermore, Toyota will still produce a couple of low-volume V8 engines but that remains to be confirmed and verified. Our guesstimate at this time is that Toyota could build twin-turbo V8s for Lexus flagship models, motorsport applications and an older electrified version for the Toyota Century.
Bear in mind too, Toyota isn’t killing off the V8 due to the unthinkable coronavirus pandemic and the slump in sales figures as a result, but rather a combination of things such as ever increasing emission regulations, complex production economics and the company’s ambitions. The Huntsville plant is slated to open on May the 4th, and hopefully we will get more information then.
Toyota joins an illustrious list of manufacturers who are slowly phasing out their big, thirsty, naturally aspirated power plants for smaller, more fuel-efficient force-inducted mills, and this makes us very sad. We don’t want V8’s to go the way of the dodo. Large displacement engines have a characterful dynamic to them that smaller turbo mills lack, even if they make more power and torque.
But fret not, the V8 is still here and you’ll still have the time to appreciate it before it’s killed off for good. To that we say, visit our Showroom today and take up our Best Price Challenge, which will land you the best deal on your next brand-new V8 motor.
