New Toyota Prado rendered

As the all-new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series draws near, attention is shifting to its little brother and these latest renders show how the next-generation Toyota Prado could look.

Inspired by the new LandCruiser 300’s stocky exterior design, these unofficial images come from Russian auto website Auto.mail and give the Prado a more modern look while retaining its intrepid visual appeal.

Along with slim-line LED headlight clusters and a contemporary grille design, the rear-end of the go-anywhere Toyota is bestowed with ultra-modern L-shaped LED tail-lights that incorporate elements of the LandCruiser 300’s styling cues.

As carsales reported in March this year, a source with knowledge of the next Prado program said the new model was “at least more than two years away” from launch in Australia.

Tipped to break cover in 2023 and arrive here a few months later, we know the new Prado will feature a rugged design, improved capabilities and more tech to maintain appeal in its key global markets of Australia, Russia and the Middle East.

Set to be based on the same scalable TNGA-F steel ladder-frame platform as the LC300 and upcoming Tundra full-size pick-up, the next-generation Prado is expected to emulate LandCruiser in keeping similar dimensions to the current model.

The new Prado, which replaces the current J150 Series introduced in 2009, should also deliver higher off-road capabilities and may improve towing capacities if reports from Japan citing an upgraded ‘twin-turbo’ version of the current 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine come to fruition.

It’s not clear how much power the next Prado will pump out but it’s a safe bet it’ll be more than the current 2.8-litre turbo-diesel which was boosted to 150kW/500Nm during an update in 2020. The twin-turbo diesel engine will reportedly join forces with an eight-speed automatic transmission in lieu of the current six-speed unit.

The latest Prado update also brought a few more safety features, but the new model can be expected to deliver big improvements in terms of semi-autonomous driver assistance systems.

There’s been speculation the next Prado will also follow in the LandCruiser 300 Series’ tyre tracks with a beefed-up GR Sport off-road model that could feature the LC300’s burly 3.3-litre twin-turbo diesel V6 (227kW/700Nm).

Whatever eventuates, the Toyota Prado is unlikely to give up its title of Australia’s top-selling large SUV, more than doubling the sales of the next-best-selling SUV on the market, the Isuzu MU-X.

Last year Toyota sold more than 18,000 Prados and this year sales are up by 32 per cent on that figure, as the Australian appetite for tow-friendly large off-road SUVs continues unabated.