Mike Sinclair•18 Jul 2014
NEWS
FJ Cruiser safe Down Under
Toyota Australia says no plans to axe retro off-roaderToyota Australia says the FJ Cruiser will remain part of its line-up for the foreseeable future.
The iconic off-roader was officially axed from the car giant's US range late in 2013 but, says Toyota Australia's Stephen Coughlan, it will remain in production for key markets including Australia.
"It's been decided to discontinue FJ in the US market, but we believe there's plenty of life in it locally [in Australia]," Coughlan told motoring.com.au.
The FJ recalls the styling of the iconic FJ47 LandCruiser which helped shape Toyota's fortunes in Australia. Produced in conjunction with Toyota's truck partner Hino in Japan, the 2+2-door's underpinnings are based on the last generation 150 Series LandCruiser Prado.
Styled at the company's Los Angeles-based CALTY facility back in the early noughties, it underwent a midlife upgrade in 2011 at which time right-hand drive production commenced. It is powered exclusively by a 4.0-litre V6 petrol engine matched to a conventional automatic transmission and dual range transfer case.
"The US market provided the volume to kick off FJ but much of the effort at midlife tech change was aimed at right-hand drive markets," Coughlan said.
Coughlan says even though the US market decided to exit the FJ, there are no plans to offer a more-Aussie-friendly turbo-diesel version.
"Australia is the only market that is calling for a turbo-diesel [in the FJ Cruiser]. There simply isn't the volume to justify the change," the Toyota Australia exec stated.
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Toyota
FJ Cruiser
Car News
SUV
4x4 Offroad Cars
Written byMike Sinclair
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