Off-road focused Toyota Land Cruiser 300 hinted as Nissan’s rival nears approval

With reports having cooled in recent weeks and months, a fresh claim from Australia has alleged that Toyota is mulling an off-road focused version of the incoming new Land Cruiser 300 to rival the Nissan Patrol N-Trek Warrior.

On course to debut next year, motoring.com.au reports that the hardcore model could follow the Hilux in adopting the locally developed Rugged X or Rogue monikers positioned above the ‘conventional’ SR5 (equivalent to the South African-market Raider) trim grade.

Despite stopping short of confirming the use of either moniker outright, Toyota Australia Sales and Marketing Head, Sean Hanley, said the uptake of the models in question had been good and that the level of capability within the marque’s Melbourne conversion centre exists for more variants.

“You have got to move with the market, so if suddenly there was a big market for it, certainly Toyota would analyse it and study it and if we felt that was something we should do we would look at it. It’s something we will continue to study in the future and you’d never rule anything out in that area, given the popularity of that market segment,” Hanley said.

In a related report, Nissan has indicated that the aforementioned Patrol is nearing final approval after the Coronavirus lockdown temporarily halted the programme from going forward.

“Where we’re at, at the moment, is going through the process of creating the proof of concept. Unfortunately, that process has been lengthened due to COVID-19, but that’s not to say that we are delaying or postponing anything,” Managing Director Down Under, Stephen Lester confirmed to caradvice.com.au.

“Patrol makes total sense for a Warrior package of course. It already comes equipped with extraordinary suspension and an off-road performance package. It’s going to happen and I’m going to keep pushing it as far as we can push it until it gets to a point where I’m told that I can’t do it”.

Approved from production last year, the Patrol will be the second model after the Navara to receive the N-Trek Warrior designation, with the conversion set to be carried by Melbourne-based engineering firm Premcar, who had been linked to the cancelled Ford Ranger Raptor V8 project.

Although Nissan South Africa has yet to confirm availability of the facelift Patrol, the N-Trek Warrior model, like the Navara, are unlikely to be offered on local shores anytime soon.

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