The famous Japanese off-roader will officially return to American soil — but it’s not quite what you’d expect.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is an automotive icon, and it has been praised for its rugged reliability and superior offroad capabilities for years now. Indeed, despite lacking electronic gizmos compared to its German and American rivals, they are vastly popular across the globe and often used to take on some of the world’s most challenging terrains.
However, following the all-new Land Cruiser 300 series launched globally in 2021, Toyota USA didn’t seem to think it would fit the North-American market. As a result, the manufacturer decided to not offer the Land Cruisers in the US and instead relied on the more premium Lexus LX600 to fill the gap. Unfortunately, although the LX shares the same body-on-frame platform as the Land Cruiser 300, its higher price makes it far from affordable for the average consumer, and many feel it lacks the true essence of a proper Land Cruiser.
Thus, Toyota finally announced the return of the off-road legend to the US through a recent Facebook post, with a caption that read, “Did you really think we’d be gone for long? The legend returns.” But while it would only be natural to think the Land Cruiser 300 would now come back to the US, the automaker is actually referring to a brand new model, speculated to be based on the recently launched 2024 Lexus GX.
The GX is Lexus’ mid-size ladder-framed SUV which shares a similar platform to the Toyota Land Cruiser 300, Sequoia, and Tundra, only made more compact. It’s equipped with a robust and punchy twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter V6 producing 349 hp, paired with a 10-speed automatic. And with a towing capacity of up to 8000 pounds, the engine is far from underpowered.
That said, you may recall the old GX was based on the Land Cruiser Prado — a smaller model designed to be more comfortable on asphalt roads while being slightly less capable off-road than the original. As some hardcore fans may consider the Prado as not a proper Land Cruiser, we can see their worry about getting disappointed by what’s coming. But according to Automotive News, Toyota could drop the “Prado” name entirely and sell it as just “Land Cruiser” instead.
While it could be a sign of improvement, there’s still no denying our desire for the 300 series to be sold on our shore, though.
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