Will the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series get a V6 or four-cylinder diesel? Here's what you need to know

What will be powering the LC300 Series?

The rough seas swirling around the incoming LandCruiser 300 Series got a whole lot murkier this week, with fresh reports out of Japan suggesting the off-road icon will be equipped with a 3.3-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, with no mention of the punchy six-cylinder we'd been promised.

The reports, which came courtesy of Japan's Best Car Web, had us scratching our collective heads, given it and other Japanese outlets had previously reported the brand was cooking up a V6 for international markets - like ours - to compensate for the loss of the beloved diesel V8 that has powered our LandCruiser 200 for years.

So is all as it seems? Are our V6 diesel dreams dead? No, they're not.

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Trawling though the hundreds of reports that have surfaced in Japan since news of the LC300 model surfaces has revealed that there has long been talk of a four-cylinder diesel for certain international markets, but that's not expected to include our own, where it's thought that the leap from eight to four cylinders would be a pill too bitter to swallow.

While Toyota in Australia has stayed resolutely quiet on the detail surrounding the new model, the brand has boldly promised the new model LC300 will out-punch the LC200 in every measurable way - think power, torque, capability, etc.

For that, CarsGuide continues to understand that that will mean a six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, with any four-cylinder options likely destined for overseas markets.

Again, we expect it to be all-new, and for it to be used to power other Toyota product, including a new HiLux and Fortuner.

New reports also point to the possibility of electrification joining that engine in the future, with Toyota reportedly working on a diesel hybrid. There is also a brace of turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 petrol engines - one hybrid, the other not - but neither are expected to be available in our market from launch.

The one thing we do know for certain? All will be revealed soon, with the new LandCruiser 300 Series expected to debut - at least in Japan - in April 2021.