Toyota FJ Cruiser News

But it's not what you think, and definitely not the much-loved FJ Holden from the 1950s.  The new FJ is actually a Toyota, not a Holden, and so different from the all-Aussie 'humpy' that it should be given a different name for Australia. The new-age FJ is a Cruiser that is coming in October as part of a youth push at Toyota Australia that also includes the funky, boxy, Scion xB.  Both are already sold in the USA but the Australian models are being tweaked with right-side steering and other changes for their time Down Under. The Scion will also have a Toyota badge in Australia. The FJ is part of the LandCruiser family and is built up from the mechanical package of the previous-generation Prado. It is likely to be sold with both two and four-wheel drive, as well as a V6 engine, although Toyota Australia is making no comment despite a preview last week at a major dealer convention in Melbourne.  We do not comment on future model plans," says Toyota spokesman, Mike Breen. Pricing for the FJ Cruiser is likely to start around $40,000 and it will definitely have the same bright body colours and Hummer-style looks as the American model.  Toyota based the FJ Cruiser's design on the famous FJ40 LandCruiser, a working-class four-wheel drive made famous in Australia for its work on the Snowy Mountains scheme in the 1950s. Design cues taken from the FJ40 include the grille, upright windscreen and chunky bumpers, square wheelarches and the rear-mounted and exposed full-size spare tyre. Toyota has upgraded the design with rear 'suicide' rear doors to allow easy access to the rear seat and there is swing-up glass hatch incorporated into the side-hinged rear door. The glass hatch opens independently of the rear door and can accommodate longer items. The Cruiser is designed for serious off-roading and the seats are even covered with a special water-repellent fabric while the floor and rear luggage area is covered in an easy-to-clean rubber-type material.  The ladder-frame body uses a double-wishbone independent front suspension and four-link coil-spring rear suspension. Opinion - Paul Gover The FJ Cruiser looks a lot more fun than it is to drive.  It turns heads, particularly in lollypop colours, but I gave one back to Toyota after less than two hours of a planned two-day drive in California. For a start, the FJ is a reverse-Tardis - just like the Hummer H3 - with far less space inside than its big body promises.  Visibility is poor, the cabin is overly-plastic, the performance is adequate at best, and people turn to look - but often look as if they are about to laugh. The FJ shows the sort of direction Toyota needs to take to put some excitement and fun into its boring local showrooms, but it will need a lot of local tweaking to satisfy the needs and dreams of savvy local buyers.

If you haven’t guessed, it’s the Toyota LandCruiser, which is now making a special appearance on a series of postage stamps now on sale.This is not just any old LandCruiser; it’s the FJ60 first released in 1985, which is part of Australia Post’s ‘Driving through the years’ pre-stamped envelopes.Since the first LandCruiser went on sale in the late 1950s it has sold over 540,000 units and continues to be a popular 4x4 choice.Other Aussie motoring icons to be found on stamps include the 1917 Model TT Ford Truck, 1956 Holden FE, 1961 Morris 850 and the 1976 Holden Sandman HX.The pre-stamped envelopes come in a set of five for three dollars, which is definitely cheaper than purchasing the real thing. 

Hired straight from graduating by Toyota's Calty Design Research studios near Los Angeles, Ian Cartabiano's path was laid out early. His mother was a sculptor, his father an industrial designer and the family were car nuts.He toyed with the idea of becoming a film director, but the cars won out when Toyota signed him on in 1997. So now Cartabiano drives a Toyota-engined Lotus Elise and a bunch of Toyota cars he helps design.Calty senior executive Erwin Lui says the design studio is a “conduit for American tastes and the American market”.Toyota's sales volume, and direct involvement, in the US auto industry has grown considerably since the mid-1990s. Toyota in Japan recognises the worldwide influence of the Californian culture.This is a young, diverse and faddish place with a huge appetite for the latest in style and technology. Equally, California has long been a car place, a hot-rodders' and imports paradise.Among Calty's recent design includes; the wild Toyota FJ Cruiser from 2006 creating a modern spin on the original Landcruiser, then there's the latest Tundra which is a full-sized American pickup and finally the 2007 Kluger known as Highlander in the US.For Cartabiano, the Kluger did not come easy. “It was one of the hardest projects I've been involved with,” he says.“The Highlander (Kluger) is our most mainstream SUV, it's like the Camry of SUVs.”So Cartabiano's early grille for instance the strong horizontal bars, which was abandoned and deemed a little too tough.“This car had to look strong and tough but also intelligent,” he says. “It had to have an intelligent silhouette and be proud of what it is. The previous Kluger had a kind of waddly look and the wheels looked like they had been sucked in.”The new philosophy for Toyota design, still being analysed and understood, is “vibrant clarity”. Automotive design has become more a marketing tool in recent years, manufacturers chasing individual expressions to define the “face” of each car family, he says.Cartabiano gave the Kluger a new wheel focus, a stronger face with more style muscle to the bonnet and more shoulder to the rear. There is the hint of flare over the mudguards and both 17-inch or 19-inch wheels fill out the guards.There is a more athletic look to this next Kluger, without disguising the cabin length and the fact that this is a seven-seater SUV.“There had to be a balance between form and function,” Cartabiano says.He is happy with the production version although, while understanding the need to tone it down, he does miss that original design for the Kluger grille. The end result is a more sophisticated style than the original wagon, inside and out.The new Toyota Kluger is smarter all round, with some similarities to its little brother the RAV4 and Hyundai's Santa Fe.