2007 Toyota Tundra in South Gate, California

With the 2007 Tundra, Toyota has decided to get serious about the light-duty truck market. Gone is what some derisively called a "7/8s" pickup. In its place is an honest-to-goodness, full-size, half-ton pickup that raises the competitive bar.

Other than some basic, no more than skin-deep styling cues that keep an appropriate modicum of faith with what has gone before, everything about the 2007 Toyota Tundra is new. From mundane features like four-wheel disc brakes to a cost-is-no-object, all-new 381-horsepower V8, from a re-configured assembly line in Indiana to the costly construction of a plant in Texas, Toyota has pulled out all the stops. That thinking extends to the number of variations offered.

The 2007 Toyota Tundra comes in three body styles: a two-door Regular cab; a Double Cab with front-hinged, secondary rear side doors; and a four-door CrewMax. It's available in three bed lengths and three different wheelbases. There are three engine choices, a V6 and two V8s, and a choice of five-speed and six-speed automatics. Rear-wheel drive is standard, four-wheel drive optional. Three trim levels, DX, SR5 and Limited, offer seating for two, three, five or six. In all, Toyota says the '07 Tundra has 31 different build configurations.