Toyota’s path into truck prominence has been direct and straightforward. They entered the U.S. light truck market in 1964 with their introduction of the Toyota Stout, which was marketed until 1969, when it was succeeded by the smaller Hilux. Between 1964 and 1999, Toyota steadily built its reputation for truck quality on a solid line of little pickups. Beginning in 1976, these resilient vehicles were simply called compact pickups. The badge Tacoma wasn’t attached until 1995 and back then its mission was to continue in the tread marks of their legendary line of popular light trucks. It was their sixth generation of Toyota trucks.

The early Tacoma was offered in both 2-wheel and 4-wheel drive models with two body styles: regular cab and Xtracab. Then in 2005 the Tacoma was redesigned and reclassified to a mid-size. The second-generation Tacoma immediately shot to the head of the class, becoming Motor Trend Magazine’s Truck of the Year for 2005.

For 2012, the Tacoma gets yet another moderate refresh, with new looks and even more high-tech features, like Toyota’s Entune voice-command infotainment system. The 2012 base engine is a 2.7 liter, 4-cylinder engine producing 159 horsepower, which offers some rather notable mpg stats with 19 city and 24 highway. The Tacoma has always been considered one of the more nimble trucks for daily chores and commuting, or as worthy off-road contender for weekend warriors.

If you’re looking to add a bit more performance to your Tacoma truck, K&N has a solution for the entire lineup of Toyota Tacoma’s.

K&N can bump up your truck’s performance with several amazingly easy options. The easiest of these is by simply upgrading the existing air filter with one of K&N’s Toyota Tacoma performance air filters. K&N is the inventor of the high flow performance cotton air filter. These filters are made from a special woven cotton material that improves air flow while also providing excellent filtration. The special cotton fabric is completely washable and reusable, and can go up to 50,000 miles before cleaning is needed depending on driving conditions. This air filter should outlast the life of your Toyota truck – K&N just about gives you their word on it with their 1,000,000 mile limited warranty. Plus, installing the K&N air filter is exactly the same as replacing the factory installed filter, with absolutely no modifications required.

For serious power and torque performance benefits, look no further than K&N’s Toyota Tacoma performance air intakes. K&N offers a complete line of air intakes and cold air intakes for most Toyota Tacoma trucks. K&N produces these air intakes custom made for each pickup model to gain power you can feel. Some have a black heat resistent non-metallic tube and some have great looking aluminum tubes with a chrome like finish. K&N’s exceptional intake designs are engineered to lower the air restriction that the factory installed air box produces, which will deliver a guaranteed power improvement for your Toyota Tacoma, while also providing outstanding air filtration.

All K&N air intakes come with a washable and reusable cotton gauze filter element. These filters can be used for up to 100,000 miles before cleaning is needed depending on driving conditions. K&N air intakes are also easy to install and usually only take about 90 minutes from start to finish. Estimated horsepower increases are based on dyno testing. See the K&N website for estimated horsepower gains.

K&N also offers Performance Gold oil filters, Pro Series oil filters and washable, reusable oil filters by Pure Power. Toyota Tacoma oil filters from K&N provide exceptional levels of protection against harmful contaminants and nasty debris that can damage engines, while at the same time, they provide high oil flow rates. K&N Wrench-Off oil filters for the Tacoma are made with a one inch nut welded to the top of the canister for easy removal. Toyota Tacoma Pro Series oil filters from K&N offer great protection and performance at a low cost. K&N’s reusable oil filter by Pure Power provides a housing, bypass valve and call plate that are all CNC machined from Billet 6061 T6 aluminum, so under normal operating conditions, they are also built to outlast the life of your truck.

For more info, visit KNfilters.com