Supercharger systems specialist Sprintex Limited (ASX: SIX) has commenced development and manufacturing of a new supercharger system to suit the Toyota Tacoma 3.5 V6 pickup truck range to meet rising demand in the USA, Middle East and Asian markets.
Over one million Tacoma 3.5 V6 model are on (and off) the road, providing significant market depth. Sprintex is aiming to gain traction of Tacoma’s current vehicle production of approximately 250,000 units annually; similar volume to USA production of the Jeep Wrangler for which the company currently offers a supercharger system.
The Tacoma 3.5 V6 model is a popular choice for off-road and overland recreational lifestyle applications and opens significant opportunities for the Company to expand its USA product range of industry leading composite Supercharger systems.
The Tacoma shares similar engine architecture with the Jeep 3.6L Pentastar range, allowing the supercharger design to utilise many common parts from the new Jeep Wrangler product, reducing both development and production costs for the system, leveraging the company’s expertise and success with technically superior nylon composite manifolding and its highly efficient S5-335 front entry supercharger.
Development and tooling costs are expected to total $500,000, representing a significant investment for the company.
The Sprintex development strategy is to utilise existing proprietary knowledge to create synergy with existing Sprintex Supercharger systems resulting in considerable savings rather than starting from the ground up with new designs.
With a similar engine configuration to the Jeep 3.6 V6 and, similar control systems to the company’s current Toyota applications, the Tacoma 3.5 V6 supercharger system development timeline is expected to be significantly reduced, benefitting from the company’s existing knowledge base.
Sprintex has achieved a significant competitive advantage over the market, being the first to introduce nylon composite to supercharger systems in 2014 and is still the only manufacturer of nylon composite supercharger systems.
Over the past three years Sprintex has developed a new ‘front entry’ supercharger to enable the second iteration of Jeep 3.6 V6 systems.
The Tacoma 3.5 V6 supercharger offers industry leading low speed torque that is essential to vehicles equipped with larger wheel and tyre packages and raised suspension for off-roading and rock climbing.
Sales of the Toyota Tacoma system are targeted to commence in the fourth quarter 2021.