Toyota Bringing Back Land Cruiser to US in August. What We Know Now

The Japanese car manufacturer is banking on Americans still rollin’ to the oldies—and printing profits, as Ford and Land Rover have done with flagship SUVs.

(Bloomberg) — Two years after telling Americans the Land Cruiser would end sales in the US, Toyota Motor Corp. has switched its tune.

During a July 26 phone call, Toyota spokesperson Nathan Kokes said the Japanese car manufacturer will announce details of a US-bound Land Cruiser on Aug. 1.

Toyota executives have been hinting for months that the brand’s longest-running nameplate would return to the US. On July 6, a teaser photo on the Toyota website showed a first-generation Land Cruiser parked opposite an unnamed four-door SUV. “With 65 years of heritage, you can choose to slow down or reinvent yourself. We chose the latter,” said the caption. 

Instagram posts from the 85-year-old company on Wednesday morning included the mud-splattered flank of an unidentified vehicle and a vague caption about a new adventure beginning. A concurrent post on the ToyotaUSA Instagram account announced the reborn US Land Cruiser.  

Kokes declined to specify the expected platform for the vehicle, but said it would be confirmed during the Aug. 1 news event.

Early reports in several trade publications predict that the new Land Cruiser will be built on the same structure as the Lexus GX; our best guess is it will be the close to, if not the same as, the model that debuted in 2021 in Japan. It was the first such revamp in 14 years.

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A Trusted Workhorse

Developed in the early 1950s, the large Land Cruiser made its name as a trusted off-road conveyance reliable under harsh extremes, from Australia’s outback and Russia’s tundra to Africa’s savannah. Production began in 1951 when the US government asked Toyota to manufacture something with the capabilities of a Jeep; these days, social media fan pages and owners’ clubs with names like “Land Cruiser Nation” and “Land Cruiser Lifestyle” extol its rugged virtues and distinctive looks.

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The vehicle became wildly popular in Japan, where deliveries continued during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Emboldened by the popularity of glamping and the adventuring lifestyle—and dealership waitlists stretching as long as four years—used-car sites were flipping the new models for a premium of around 15 million yen ($132,000), compared with the suggested MSRP of around 5 million yen to 8 million yen, including tax, Bloomberg reported.

Toyota, however, hadn’t widely marketed its gem in the US for years. After sales steadily declined over the past two decades, it ended production in 2021, before Japan’s newest model was announced.

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“We remain committed to the large SUV segment and will continue to explore future products that celebrate the Land Cruiser’s rich off-road history,” the company said at the time.

Now, it seems that the potential of the massive SUV market and the value of a long-recognized nameplate turned into folly for Toyota to ignore. SUVs and trucks make up 70% of vehicle sales in the US, while an energetic collectors’ market for vintage Land Cruisers fosters nostalgia. In the past five years, sale values of 1980s-era Land Cruisers rose from around $11,600 to roughly $40,000, according to results from BringaTrailer.com. 

Joining the Off-Road Club

Toyota joins other automakers who are resurrecting a heritage marque to bolster its bottom line. Land Rover debuted the new Defender in 2019; Ford launched its modern take on the Bronco in 2020; General Motors started delivering the electric version of its Hummer in 2022. 

“Bronco is one of the greatest reintroduction marketing moves in decades,” says Kevin Tynan, senior automotive analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence. “Considering how customizable it is, and all the accessories and the market for it, Bronco is just pure profit.”

Then there’s Jeep, which  never stopped making Wranglers, its bestselling rig that distinguished itself as a practical ground-eater during World War II. With endless options for customization and add-ons offered directly from the factory, Wrangler is a money-making machine. The company produces 200,000 of them annually.

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“Jeep just dominates the space,” Tynan says. “Wrangler is an ancient platform that has paid for itself a million times over, and it doesn’t even look any different. But customers can just add this, that and the other thing—it’s brilliant.” 

Toyota will be hard-pressed to make its sizable Land Cruiser as lucrative. The Bronco and Wrangler are profitable because customers spend thousands of additional dollars on such factory upgrades as wheel flares ($995), trailer-towing systems ($1,195), hinge-gate reinforcements ($675) and power-operated soft-top sunroofs ($4,295). It’s unlikely that the Cruiser, with its bulkier body and staid reputation, will offer as many off-road options. 

A closer competitor for Land Cruiser may be the modern Jeep Grand Wagoneer, which is nearer in size and practicality.

The seven-passenger SUV debuted in 1962, ceased production in 1991, and reemerged  in 2021. It doesn’t offer as many options and kits as a Wrangler, but that’s not why people buy it, says Tynan. They buy it for carting around kids, gear and groceries—the same reasons they’d buy a Land Cruiser. 

“Land Cruiser has that kind of throwback vibe,” he says. 

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