Toyota has announced the official debut of the all-new Land Cruiser Prado on August 1. In North America, the model will simply be known as the Land Cruiser and is expected to be the sister model to the Lexus GX. Outside of markets in the region, it will be known as the Land Cruiser Prado, although it’s not certain which markets will get the off-road SUV.
The reason for the naming choice in North America is because the region does not get the latest J300 Land Cruiser, with the fourth-generation J310 Lexus LX filling that niche instead. North America also gets the third-generation Lexus GX, which is built on the same GA-F version of the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) as the J300 Land Cruiser and LX.
In fact, the GX shares the same wheelbase of 2,850 mm and has a footprint similar to those models, which suggests the differentiation in size between the J300 Land Cruiser and next-generation Land Cruiser Prado (reportedly codenamed J250) will be less than before. Historically, the Land Cruiser Prado has been the smaller sibling of the full-sized Land Cruiser.
A teaser image of the upcoming Land Cruiser Prado shows a unique face that appears to be inspired by the J60 Land Cruiser. You certainly won’t confuse it with the J300 as the grille is smaller and there’s a squarish theme going on involving the headlamps and rugged surfaces at the front. Previous teasers also show a profile that isn’t unlike the GX with a blocky design, long bonnet and near-vertical front and rear windows.
Given the proposed visual and platform similarities, we can expect the Land Cruiser Prado to get the GX’s range of petrol powertrains, which include a 3.5 litre twin-turbo V6 and a hybridised 2.4 litre turbocharged inline-four cylinder.
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old fashioned boxy looks again