Leaked images have been circulating online of a new Toyota Land Cruiser that is obviously the upcoming 300 Series that will eventually supplant the now fourteen-year-old J200. Those with a penchant for boxy utility vehicles should be pleased, as Toyota’s longest-running model has not had its shape changed by much. There’s none of that fastback-inspired nonsense you’ll find on crossovers, the rear hatch appears to be at an almost 90-degree angle from the pavement and the front is almost as flat.
But it has received some overtly modern updates, giving a more contemporary style than the outgoing Land Cruiser despite its many facelifts. Unfortunately, we can only guess about its specifications or whether it will have a place on our market or leave the segment to the Lexus LX.
With the Land Cruiser having packed its bags for 2021, the Lexus’ luxury version of the J200 is likely all we’ll be getting for a while. The same is likely to be true with the 300 Series. Unless Toyota thinks it can make a fresh case for the original in North America, once other markets have had their fill, we’ll probably be limited to its Lexus equivalent — which is likely to sell better.
The spy shots — courtesy of CocheSpias.net — should give us a decent idea of what that car will look like, too. Just imagine it with a whopper of a grille and trick headlamps and you’re halfway there. You can also assume obligatory four-wheel drive and a bunch of features designed to cater to those who might actually take their vehicles off-road. Everything else would just be a guess. But we’re relatively certain that the 300 will come with a twin-turbo, 3.5-liter V6, and some form of hybrid that’s likely to be introduced later in its lifespan.
[Image: Toyota]
Did Toyota poach the grille guy from GM or something? This could pass for a GMC from the front. Not a fan of the side profile.
I doubt there’s much they can do with the basic shape anymore. The 200 is already as big as they can make it, without basically building a full size truck. And the tall frame with all components sucked up into it, places seats high enough to pretty much require a flat roof all the way back.
In the US, a more frugal, hence longer range, power plant makes sense. The current’s fuel range, is a bit of a nuisance for the sort of overlanding it is otherwise a natural for. And “noone” over here buys a Cruiser for towing heavy stuff anyway, so it’s not as if the world’s biggest V8 is a requirement. In Oz, they’ll no doubt get a diesel, to indulge in their national weekend pastime of towing improbable amounts of beer into the middle of the Simpson, so they can sit there suitably boozed up and burn with the local scorpions.
2021 is the last year for the Toyota Land Cruiser in the United States so we are not getting this.
A common way to market the last of the old series….get them while they are still around
I can guarantee you it will be coming to US market
Yep
“A dealer ‘source’ tells us that the Land Cruiser will be gone next year, but it’s likely to make a triumphant return sometime soon.”
hahahaha
Well, it looks worse than the Patrol now. So there’s that.
Looks like styling that could translate as a Lexus LX almost unchanged.
Mostly the 200 series is about overengineered mechanicals, not styling, and the thing I want to know most about the 300 series is whether it continues that tradition.
I understand some of the appeal especially the classic versions (I guess this sort of is a classic version at this point) but hard to justify the price me thinks.