The Toyota Land Cruiser is coming back after a two-year absence, the Japanese automaker has confirmed, and it’s offering up some teaser images to give us a sense of what’s coming.
What’s clear is that it will be a decidedly different product from the one Toyota is selling in other parts of the world. Nor will it be a badge-engineered version of the big Lexus LX SUV. About the only thing that seems certain is that the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser will continue to use a body-on-frame platform that will allow it to maintain its go-anywhere off-road manners.
The next-generation SUV is set to make its debut during a preview Toyota has set up in Salt Lake City at the beginning of August.
Gone, but not forgotten
The fate of the Land Cruiser has been a matter of some debate since Toyota revealed plans to end its run in the U.S. at the close of the 2021 model year. That was all the more of a surprise considering it was the automaker’s longest-running nameplate in North America, dating back to 1960. The full-size sport-utility vehicle many expected to replace the old Land Cruiser was, for the first time, marketed solely as the Lexus LX.
The Land Cruiser name didn’t vanish, however. It remains a staple in many other parts of the world, adopting a newer, slightly smaller — and less expensive — form as the Land Cruiser Prado.
The platform of the Prado is already on its way here, underpinning the next-generation Lexus GX which made its debut a month ago. Like the GX, the 2025 Land Cruiser is expected to retain its body-on-frame platform and be offered with a three-row interior layout. (But it’s not clear if that will be an option or come standard.)
A classic SUV
The 2024 Lexus GX adopts a much more traditional truck stance and silhouette. The teaser image suggests the next Land Cruiser will pick up on some of the key design details of the GX, including the boxy silhouette and rising beltline. But it gets a chunkier grille and unique bumpers that should enhance the Toyota SUV’s approach and departure angles.
Where mainstream versions of the GX are said to have modest off-road capabilities, Toyota clearly intends for the next Land Cruiser to have much more serious chops.
That could see the Toyota adopt some of the features found on the more rugged GX 550 Overtrail, a new addition to the Lexus line-up. That could include an Electronic Kinetic Dynamic Damper System.
Also known as E-KDSS, it is designed to smooth out the bumps when driven on-road, while also enhancing the Overtrail’s off-road wheel articulation. Other features certain to show up on the Land Cruiser should include one or more locking differential.
Improved affordability
The big changes seem a logical move for Toyota. The last-generation Land Cruiser moved into a niche that clearly limited its potential market, with base pricing starting around $85,000. At the time, company officials didn’t seem especially worried about losing the LC, expecting that the affluent buyers it needed to attract wouldn’t have a problem crossing over to the more upscale Lexus brand.
That said, they weren’t intending to abandon the market for serious off-road vehicles. Quite the contrary. If anything, the market for serious overland vehicles has mushroomed in recent years, underscored by the continuing growth of the Jeep brand, even as it has faced growing competition from the revived Ford Bronco. Volkswagen is getting ready to weigh in with the reborn Scout brand which should arrive about the same time as the next Toyota Land Cruiser.
If that proves on the mark, don’t be surprised to see the 2025 Land Cruiser start closer to $50,000, with an assortment of different grades promising to be ever more rugged and capable.