Not for the first time Toyota is using the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada to showcase its custom design and engineering prowess, this year unveiling a pair of highly-modified concept vehicles based on the 2025 LandCruiser (Prado) and 4Runner.
Nearing completion, the Land Cruiser ROX Concept is a product of Toyota’s Calty Design Research studio across its two campuses in Newport Beach, California and Ann Arbor, Michigan. And clearly the West Coast team’s surf-side location has been an influence on its development.
Taking a gas axe to the rear of the car results in an open-top, four-door design with ute-like cargo capacity in the back, the ‘tray’ reinforced by a sloping lattice-type frame.
There’s a full-width, full-length panoramic roof with a folding soft top and the doors will be half-height without glass.
Then add muscular wheel arch extensions, oversize rims and hardcore off-road tyres as well as hand-fabricated (steel) front and rear bumpers, brush guard and skid plates.
Calty Design Research Chief Designer Adam Rabinowitz confirms the project was inspired by early roofless LandCruiser FJ40 models, with Senior Lead Designer Scott Roller adding, "This isn’t where you just bolt parts on so it looks the part, it actually does function.”
In fact, Toyota says more than half of the vehicle has been replaced with new, one-off parts.
Also a work in progress is the 4Runner TRD Surf Concept being developed by Toyota USA’s Motorsports Garage at the brand’s Plano, Texas HQ.
A throwback to the first-generation 4Runner (sold in Australia from the early to mid-1980s), the two-door ‘semi-convertible’ leans into the model’s Japanese domestic market HiLux Surf nameplate.
Toyota Motorsport Group Manager Paul Doleshai said, “We wanted it to really be a throwback as true as we could be to the '84.”
Featuring a removable roof structure and custom roof rack, the Surf concept is also in line for front folding seats (to allow rear row access) wheel arch extensions, a bull bar and a map printed on the bonnet.
The 2024 SEMA show opens at the Las Vegas Convention Center on November 5, 2024 and Toyota USA has produced a pair of videos outlining each car’s origin and progress.
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