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Toyota Boasts About Castings

Before the big game this past weekend, we saw some castings while watching the NFL during championship week. (Are we getting paid for this overtime?)

The castings weren’t on the field of play, of course (although the Steelers defense often looks like it’s composed of engineered metal components). Instead, they took center stage in an advertisement for the Toyota Tundra.

In the 30-second spot, Toyota highlights the Tundra’s power train. On the right side of an oversized balance is a “cast iron V-8 block [that] makes your truck weigh more,” and on the left is an “aluminum [block] that lets you tow more.”

The announcer doesn’t say so, but of course the block on the left is also cast. According to marketing representative Erin Poole, the part is in fact cast at Toyota-owned metalcasting facility Bodine Aluminum.

Regardless of the use of the word “cast” with the iron block but not the aluminum one, both of the parts are intended in the commercial to look like mean components that make up a mean machine. And the engineered, cohesive look of the castings helps pull that intention off.

Remember, this is the line of trucks that have been featured in some of the more over-the-top truck advertisements ever produced. Namely, the ones showing the Tundra pulling off death defying feats with relative ease—bringing a 10,000-lb. trailer quickly to a stop down a steep grade, stopping at the edge of a gorge after barreling through a tight gate, etc. The company also went all out to show just how tough the Tundra is during this year’s Super Bowl. So the castings used in the more subtle campaign have big shoes to fill.

And according to Poole, castings haven’t made their last appearance in the Tundra commercials. The truck also features a cast steel brake rotor that will make an appearance in the campaign sometime in the near future. Keep yours eyes out for it, and tell your boss you did some industry research while watching TV.