Reports have continued to mount that the Toyota Land Cruiser 70-series will drop its V8 engine for a hybrid four-cylinder.
Mulled as long ago as 2019, two years before the unveiling of the Land Cruiser 300, Toyota’s Vice-President of Sales and Marketing in Australia has provided the clearest hint yet that all of its commercial vehicles could have a hybrid powertrain by 2025.
Addressing local media at the end of last month following reports of the Land Cruiser 70-series possibly heading the four-cylinder route at the expense of the 4.5 D-4D turbodiesel V8 engine, Sean Hanley, while refusing to comment outright on the claims, stated that change is bound to occur in any vehicle’s lifecycle as time goes on.
Four years ago, the automaker stated that all of its models by 2025, including the Land Cruiser 70-series, will have hybridisation regardless of bodystyle or segment.
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Hanley told carsales.com.au that acceptance of a hybrid Land Cruiser 70 is likely to happen “if it was capable of doing the things they wanted it to do”.
On-sale in its current guise since 1984, the 70-series last boasted a four-cylinder engine in the late 1980s with certain markets in Europe also being privy to a unique five-cylinder diesel made by Italian firm, VM Motori, that lasted until 1990.
Since then, it has mostly relied on six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines with the current single turbo version of the now discontinued Land Cruiser 200’s 4.5-litre twin-turbo unit debuting in 2007.
At the same time, Hanley stated that a hybrid roll-out could include the likes of the Hilux, Land Cruiser Prado and the Land Cruiser 300, the latter having been rumoured for not only a diesel/electric powerunit, but also a conventional petrol/hybrid similar to that of the Lexus LS that has the same 3.5-litre badged twin-turbo 3.4-litre V6 petrol engine.
Besides reports of the Hilux’s North American twin, the Tacoma, dropping its V6 engine for a pair of turbocharged four-cylinder engines – one being a hybrid – speculation has also alleged that the Prado, due for unveiling this year, will get a hybrid unit, potentially with a petrol rather than a diesel engine.
Describing the possibility of either the Hilux or Land Cruiser being fitted with an electrified powertrain before 2025 as “quite conceivable”, Hanley remarked that while Toyota has been firm in setting out its targets, “it doesn’t mean we won’t accelerate some of those technologies in the future”.
As it stands, sales of hybrid models in Australia have skyrocketed with waiting lists of more than 12 months in some cases for the Camry Hybrid, the Kluger (Highlander) Hybrid and the top-selling RAV4 Hybrid that is the worst hit by excessive demand.
Locally, supply constraints have also hit availability of the RAV4 Hybrid and the locally made Corolla Cross Hybrid that continues to sell in higher demand than what Toyota South Africa Motors had expected.
Unlike in Australia though, whose order books have been closed over a year due to demand, ordering of the Land Cruiser 70-series for South Africa continues unaffected.
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