Toyota Landcruiser
by Sam Livingstone

In Europe the Toyota Landcruiser has never been recognised as such a significant vehicle. Landrover and Jeep products and their rich heritages are well known, but the Landcruiser is only just on the radar, even the RAV4 from Toyota is better know and it has only been available for 8 years. But the Landcruiser is one of the most significant off-roaders in the world. It has been produced for over 50 years, sold more than 4 million worldwide and overtaken the famous British and American brands as The workhorse in more remote and rugged terrain where its reliability and ruggedness outperforms all others.

At Paris Toyota were showing their new Landcruiser, the first to be designed at the state of the art design centre, ED2, in France.

The car maintains its separate ladder frame chassis construction (a strategy that differs from Landrover and one that will no-doubt please traditionalists) but otherwise is aimed to appeal more to those used to road focused off-roaders, such as the RAV4.

It is an evolutionary design that picks up design cues from previous Landcruisers and the RAV4, and successfully creates a more modern, European and dynamic aesthetic in keeping with current trends within the European and American off-roader market.

The front grille features a new ‘T’ shaped feature and broad slats, a chunkiness that continues through the exterior design particularly in the bumpers and side protection mouldings to emphasise the Landcruiser’s rugged identity. The front lamps borrow heavily on the RAV4 as they bleed into the upper surface of the front wings which then runs into the A-pillar, around the DLO and into the base of the C-pillar in an ‘all of a piece’ oneness. At the C-pillar the DLO features a more acutely angled rear, and lower down a ‘kick-up’, both of which are more prominent and dynamic interpretations of previous Landcruiser signature design elements. The diving waistline that runs full length into the front wing and the rear lamps’ ‘speed blisters’ give the car more dynamism and contribute to the overall more modern and car like aesthetic than its predecessors.

Inside the car has a design identity that borrows heavily on the new Corolla, improves on the perceived quality of its predecessors, but still remains relatively bland next to its European competition, particularly with its dominating grey materials.

The new Landcruiser arrives at a time when off-roader sales are set to grow fast in Europe with the next generation of MPV inspired products such at the Volvo XC and Volkswagen Touareg just launched. The Landcruiser will likely benefit from this as some of those new prospective customers look further afield and consider the Toyota. With this new model they will have an alternative that has more rugged identity, but one that is more European in feel than any previous Landcruiser.

It may be some time before the Landcruiser dominates the European market as it does in Asia, Australasia and Africa, but this model looks likely to contribute to Toyota’s steadily growing European market share and significantly outsell its predecessor.

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