It was the same basic design from 1993 to 2012. That's why the sales suffered, it was horribly outdated and not all that well made IMO. Especially those models with the 3.0 V6 from the Ford Taurus, lots of trouble with those engines in addition to them being completely gutless and getting horrid fuel economy.

 

The last Ranger was number 1 in sales in the segment if I remembered correctly. Competition is good, perhaps this will light a fire under Toyota to be more aggressive with its truck offerings. While the new Tacoma is nice, it is certainly lacking in the engine department and the frame is a warmed over slightly improved version of the previous gen. Sure the flex was intended to "help the wheels to stay in contact with the road during offroading" as reps claim, but seriously now. The overseas HiLux has a fully boxed frame and it drove across Anarctica with two drunk TV hosts. This gen Tacoma seems rushed just to retain its sales crown and to hold down the GM twins.

 

I do agree that the frame is the weak link in the new Tacoma. All Toyota trucks (T100 and Truck) were using fully boxed frames in North America until the mid 90s Tacoma and first gen Tundra. Interesting as now all of the competition including the HD trucks use fully boxed frames.