LC70's 'identity crisis' leaves room for another V8 4X4 to fill the void left after Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series moved to four-cylinder only

The Toyota LandCruiser is having a “bit of an identity crisis” according to the Asia-Pacific boss of a new brand that’s bringing rugged 4X4s to Australia.

Justin Hocevar, Head of Asia-Pacific for Ineos Automotive, told CarsGuide he sees a strong market for 4WDs that focus on heavy-duty ability without being full-sized American utes and that the Ineos brand’s main product, the Grenadier SUV, only has one rival in that space.

He’s referring to the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series, and he seems to think its future is a bit up in the air with the demise of its former V8 powertrain. So much so that the idea of Ineos making its recent V8-powered Grenadier concept a production reality isn’t off the cards.

Hocevar told CarsGuide he sees a lot more room to grow in the 4X4 market in which the Grenadier, an off-road SUV inspired by the original Land Rover Defender, exists. He also says it’s a space between two comparatively large segments.

He says there’s “team Thailand” — or the ever-popular dual-cab ute — and the “big American truck” with the Ineos Grenadier sitting in the middle.

“I think from an ability point of view, we sort of sit in that spot between those two larger bubbles,” Hocevar said.

“There's one player really in there. I think that's a vehicle that comes with a huge amount of iconic credibility, of course, but it's also going through a bit of an identity crisis right now.”

“The V8 is dead. They're trying to introduce everybody to a four-cylinder auto which… adoption of that, time will tell.”

The Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series was confirmed by the brand as no longer available to order with a 4.5-litre turbo-diesel V8 engine in July this year.

Its replacement is effectively the same 2.8-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine as has powered the HiLux ute for some time.

Hocevar isn’t critical of the quality of the LandCruiser itself, in fact quite the opposite: his statement points to the possibility there is still a market for the V8-powered LC70.

He said on top of that, the 70 Series has been mostly uncontested in its space, and the challenge of Ineos appearing might be another layer for the Japanese giant to deal with.

“They've got a great network, they've got a great brand, they've got a lot of fleet buyers. 

“There's a lot of reasons why it'll continue to chug along, but I don't think that they've had a challenger in this space for a very long time.”

When asked whether Ineos’ V8-powered Grenadier that was shown off amongst other so-far one-off concepts the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed could come to fruition, Hocevar was not at liberty to confirm anything, but seemed personally keen on the idea.

“Never say never. We'd certainly be putting our hands up for one if it came along,” he told us. 

“But it would have to be the right package. We've got two excellent power units already.”

Those two engines are the BMW 'B57' and 'B58' turbocharged 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder units, a diesel and petrol version respectively.

“For a large, heavy vehicle that is not the most aerodynamically shaped — it's the most polite way of putting it about our product — the vehicle gets along beautifully,” Hocevar said in praise of the Bavarian sixes powering the British-branded, French-built 4X4s.

“It's smooth, it's economical, it's got oodles of torque and it gets that torque down amazingly low in the rev range.”

The 6.2-litre petrol V8 under the bonnet of the concept was GM-sourced, but given Ineos’ engine deal with BMW, it’s possible the Grenadier could be fitted with the brand’s 4.4-litre V8 if it reaches fruition.

Even in low volume, it seems like Ineos would need clear, committed demand for V8-power in its Grenadier — something that would not only fill the void left by the bent-eight LC70, but also act as a successor to the V8-powered Defender it (deliberately) looks so much like.

“Yeah, it'd have to be something pretty next-level and special to warrant going there right now. But never say never. It certainly got a lot of people excited about the concept.”