Toyota Teases New Land Cruiser

Click on Land Cruiser for some AutoInformed background.

Toyota Motor Sales USA from Plano, Texas today released two teaser images of what it claimed was the “all-new Toyota rugged SUV.” We are not sure how to say with “tongue firmly planted in cheek” in Japanese (頬にしっかりと舌を植えて ? – we are trying to keep a straight face here – expecting the usual long, slow marketing rollout hence the lack of the real name), but this is obviously the new Land Cruiser, unless the Republican Texas pox has removed from Toyota’s memory the legendary Land Cruiser nameplate. (AutoInformed:Toyota Unveils the New Land Cruiser)

Originally launched in August of 1951, the Land Cruiser was first called the “Toyota BJ,” a four-wheel-drive vehicle equipped with a powerful engine. In the years since, it has  – as Toyota said at the last model change in 2021 – “sought to deliver safety and security to diverse customers and other people involved with the vehicle.”

The Lexus LX 600  version of the platform is on sale now in the US at ~$100,000. Toyota adopted the new GA-F platform while keeping the frame structure, which is the foundation of the Land Cruiser. Toyota says it redesigned the Land Cruiser’s character by merging technologies accumulated over many years with the latest technologies, to achieve such improvements as vehicle weight reduction, lowering the center of gravity, the adoption of a new powertrain, and new interior and exterior designs.

Land Cruiser Snapshots

The Land Cruiser was launched in August 1951 as the four-wheel-drive Toyota BJ equipped with a powerful engine and a high level of off-road performance in adverse environments, for example, becoming the first vehicle to climb up to the sixth checkpoint of Mount Fuji. Due in part to its performance record, it began to be adopted as a police patrol car all over Japan.

Since then, a cumulative total of ~11 million units and more than 300,000 units, including Lexus LX and GX, annually have been sold in 170 countries and regions. Land Cruiser in Toyota’s view consists of reliability, durability, and off-road performance:

• As an indispensable tool that supports people’s livelihood in places that can only be traveled to and from using the Land Cruiser.
• As a vehicle that supports lives in humanitarian aid and disaster relief efforts.
• As a vehicle that supports more enriched lives through experiences only the Land Cruiser can provide.