#LexusLX

Toyota killed the Land Cruiser for the United States after the 2021 model year, but the legendary off-roader has remained on sale elsewhere. The J300 Land Cruiser uses a twin-turbo V6 in place of its predecessor’s thirst V8 but remains a superbly capable SUV. Lexus still sells the related LX here, and we’re now hearing that Toyota may bring back the Land Cruiser, despite its slow sales numbers.

When Toyota announced that the Land Cruiser wouldn’t be coming back to the United States, off-road people shrugged and got back into their clapped-out 4Runners. Despite being incredibly capable wherever pavement is in short supply and having a pedigree that rivals Jeep’s Wrangler, the Land Cruiser is a prohibitively expensive vehicle. Toyota’s penchant for overbuilding vehicles merged with the model’s luxurious bent, resulting in a product that retailed at $87,030 before adding a single option, and sales volumes reflected this.

It was just too rich for most Americans and sales suffered as a result. But Lexus has confirmed the Cruiser-based LX will be returning and recently teased the new model’s next-generation online. While the manufacturer hasn’t confirmed that the 2022 Lexus LX 600 will be a rebadged version of Toyota’s off-road emperor, literally every generation of the LX series has been.

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.

In the Lexus lineup, no vehicle is larger — or older ⁠— than the LX 570, a true luxo barge if there ever was one. Riding atop a platform shared with the Toyota Land Cruiser and Tundra, the current body-on-frame LX 570 appeared in the spring of 2007, going on sale later that year as a 2008 model.

A redesign isn’t expected for another few years, making this model generation longer-lived than most marriages. And yet a clue exists of a new LX to come — one that scraps the LX 570 name for a loftier number.

In today’s QOTD we conclude the discussion started a couple of weeks ago when we asked for the best-aged truck and SUV designs from the Nineties. First up were American brands, followed by Europe last week. Over 10,000 of you (probably) agreed with sample submission Discovery II last week; let’s see how well this week’s Asian selection sits.