Toyota will lean into its history with the return of an off-road legend later this year.
The Japanese brand last month announced plans to bring back one of its most important nameplates after a 3-year absence from the U.S. market. Today, it offered the first glimpse of the vehicle with a heavily-shadowed teaser photo.
The Land Cruiser name has adorned rugged off-road SUVs for nearly 70 years. It’s been a Spartan 2-door military truck. It’s been a luxurious 8-seat SUV. It’s been almost everything in between.
And, at the moment, it’s two vehicles overseas. Toyota sells a full-size Land Cruiser and an almost-full-size Land Cruiser Prado in different markets. Both are capable off-road body-on-frame SUVs, and you could argue that either should come stateside.
But the teaser makes us think we’re getting a version of the Prado. That SUV shares its bones with the recently-revealed 2024 Lexus GX SUV. The silhouette in the teaser seems to share its proportions.
The new SUV faces the original Land Cruiser, a BJ model of the early 1950s. Text accompanying the photo reads, “With 65 years of heritage, you can choose to slow down or reinvent yourself. We chose the latter.”
That’s all anyone outside Toyota knows for now. We’ll bring more information when we have it.
