Electric Toyota LandCruiser soft-roader confirmed

The legendary Toyota LandCruiser line-up will be expanded with a more road-focussed electric SUV model range in the second half of the decade.

The new LandCruiser family was hinted at by the LandCruiser Se concept at last October’s Japan Mobility Show and will be sold alongside the 300 Series luxury off-roader and 70 Series workhorse.

Toyota bZ4X chief engineer Masaya Uchiyama told carsales this week the new LandCruiser model line was a “work in progress”.

While he’s now focussed on the mid-size electric SUV – the first EV Toyota has launched in Australia – Uchiyama has deep knowledge of Toyota’s SUV line-up and was a former chief engineer of the Prado 250 Series.

As per the Se show car, the new ‘soft-core’ LandCruiser model family will adopt an electric powertrain and be underpinned by a car-like monocoque platform rather than a traditional ladder-frame chassis.

It will sacrifice extreme off-road capability to be more comfortable on-road.

“I think that [electric LandCruiser] is capable like bZ4X capability, it’s not for the super rocky road,” Uchiyama said.

“The concept is to have battery EV model in the LandCruiser brand to secure the LandCruiser brand in the future.

“We have to have that multiple pathways thinking in the LandCruiser brand too.”

Overseas media reporting in the wake of the Se’s global reveal speculated on a 2026 launch to coincided with LandCruiser’s 75th anniversary.

While Uchiyama declined to be specific on launch timing, he didn’t reject a near-term arrival for the LandCruiser soft-roader.

“We don’t know, it’s a work in progress,” he said.

Also speaking at the bZ4X launch, Toyota Australia sales, marketing and franchise operations chief Sean Hanley acknowledged the existence of the concept and gave a hint about timing.

“We welcome any opportunity to bring those types of vehicles to this market,” said Hanley. “All these vehicles will become real and more visible in the future I think.

“[But] We don’t have those options available in January 2025 or January 2026.”

Uchiyama pointed to off-road specialist Land Rover’s use of monocoque frames as proof the new electric LandCruiser could retain off-road capability even while focussing on-road.

“They are very capable on the rough road,” he said. “They have very good control of the air suspension and that kind of thing.

“We can use that for the LandCruiser to have the same performance.”

However, he said a ladder frame remained preferrable for Toyota over a monocoque architecture for extreme off-road conditions.

Uchiyama was less confident of a truly off-road capable electric LandCruiser emerging before 2030, citing the need for solid-state batteries to make production and improved reliability from e-axles before that would happen.

“We need to have more breakthroughs to have the LandCruiser BEV,” he said. “But in the future it will come, it will come.”

Hanley told carsales a new electric LandCruiser wagon with an on-road orientation was “very exciting”.

“You can have this kind of car that could be ZEV [Zero Emissions Vehicle] for those types of customers… [who] just need to get around the schools and still have a bit of size but they are not going to be doing the beach, they are not going to be out in the country and over the farms.

“That will suit that customer and that could be a LandCruiser of some description.”

A LandCruiser EV would also be welcomed by Toyota Australia as it grapples with the federal government’s incoming New Vehicle Efficiency Standard and the impact it will have on its line-up of high-emissions diesel SUVs and utes.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au