Revival of the Land Cruiser & Shifting the 4Runner to its Origins?

June 30, 2023

Death & Resurrection of the North American Land Cruiser

The Toyota Land Cruiser is one of the most recognized and reliable vehicles ever produced. From the FJ20 series produced in the 1950's to the now modern 300 series, each edition has served as the industry bar in terms of reliability on a global scale. For example FJ70's are still for sale in Australia (designed in the 1970's), 80-Series are still heavily used as a desired off-road rig due to its solid front axle design, and the 100-Series is a million mile mall-crawling machine.

So in 2021 when Toyota killed the Land Cruiser for the 300 series for the North American market (excluding the LX600), North American consumers (including myself) were not happy. Two weeks ago Toyota provided some new-found hope though as a Twitter post was published stating the Land Cruiser is coming back...

Making Way for the Land Cruiser's Return

While 2 years may seem short for the Land Cruiser to have been gone, Toyota's SUV landscape has been massively overhauled. Here's what has happened in those 2 short years:

1. 2023 Toyota Sequoia - fully redesigned, more powerful using the new turbo-charged six-cylinder engine, better fuel economy, and truly impressive both on and off-road. 
   
   
   
   
   
2. 2022 Lexus LX600 - while America didn't get the 300-Series directly, we did get the all-new LX600 which is the Land Cruiser in Prada using the turbo-charged six-cylinder from the Sequoia
   
   
   
   
   
3. 2024 Lexus GX550 - the replacement for the loved GX460 could not have been better using the turbo-charged six-cylinder engine from the big brother LX600/Sequoia, redesigned interior and exterior, and improving overall technology while incorporating new trim lines specific to off-roaders
   
   
   
   
   
4. 2024 Toyota Tacoma - like the Sequoia it's completely redesigned, more powerful using a smaller 4-cylinder turbo-charged motor (and in some trims is even a hybrid producing nearly 500ft/lbs of torque), and simply a better vehicle in every way
   
   
   

Here's where things get interesting though. Many people (myself included) figured that the Land Cruiser would come back to the United States as a successor to the late FJ Cruiser. In case you forgot the FJ Cruiser, it was produced from 2007 to 2014 as a Jeep Wrangler competitor due to its shortened 4Runner chassis with suicide doors.

As of last week, Toyota has now stated that the Land Cruiser will return as a similar vehicle to the Lexus GX550. In other markets the mid-size Land Cruiser has been sold for years as the Land Cruiser Prado, so it wouldn't be a big shift, right? One problem, this would essentially cannibalize sales or annihilate one of Toyota's other most successful vehicles: the 4Runner.

Shifting the 4Runner to Its Origins

Toyota is not a dumb company (unlike say Nissan) and I do not logically think they would cannibalize the sales of one of their most successful vehicles in the North American market with a new Land Cruiser Prado release. Here's what I'm expecting in 2024 when both vehicles likely release:

• Land Cruiser Prado releases on the GX550 (4 doors and reminiscent of the Land Rover Defender) chassis using the four-cylinder hybrid engine from the Tacoma. Essentially the Prado becomes the 4Runner allowing the 4Runner to...
  
  
  
  
  
• The 4Runner release is a "shocker" to everyone because it comes as the spiritual successor to the FJ Cruiser and a true competitor to the Jeep Wrangler/Ford Bronco. The 4Runner will release with both a 2-door and 4-door option using the Tacoma's 2.4L four-cylinder engine (non-hybrid) with an optional four-wheel drive system (4WD will NOT be standard, just like it wasn't in 2007)
  
  
  

To apply some credibility to my thoughts here, Toyota actually released this concept vehicle a couple of years ago as the Compact Cruiser EV:

Regarding electric drivetrains, I do think that Toyota will eventually offer an EV-only option of the 4Runner, but I don't think it will be available at release. Both of these options seem viable as the architecture already exists, the drivetrains exist, and the market for both of these vehicles are essentially already created.

Now that you understand what I'm envisioning for the 4Runner, you're probably wondering how Toyota is paying homage to the 4Runner's origins. If you go back to the 4Runner's original release in 1987, it was actually released as a slight revision of the Toyota Truck (Toyota hadn't come out with the T-100, Tacoma, or Tundra nameplates yet) offering a 2 doors, a camper shell, and rear jump seats.

While this article is an opinion piece, I honestly believe this may hit pretty close to what happens next year upon the exciting release for both of these vehicles. There are definitely some bummers like the fact that a diesel will never come to America with a Toyota badge or that the naturally-aspirated engine (not even V8) is dead, but its required due to legal mandates. If Toyota does as well as they did with the GX550, Sequoia, or Tacoma launch I am sure they will be just fine!