Toyota Landcruiser 70 Series News

Toyota Australia has confirmed the V8-powered 70 Series LandCruiser workhorse is no more.Customers who have just received their vehicle might feel like they’ve won the lottery as their car is now worth a lot more than it was yesterday, according to Toyota Australia's Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley.“Obviously the value of these cars is going to go up incredibly overnight,” he said.Near-new versions of the final V8-powered LandCruiser 200 Series were selling for incredible prices on the used market when it was announced the new 300 Series wouldn’t feature a V8 option, and it's likely the 70 Series will follow suit.Hanley promised there would be no funny business in allocating orders to customers.“We will be speaking to our dealers and we will be putting in very strong processes in place to ensure that those that have got orders get prioritised.“So my advice to consumers who have been waiting: Do not pay over retail. What they choose to do with those cars is their business beyond that, used cars are used cars. I can't control that,” he said.The writing was on the wall for the beloved rugged four-wheel drive as the Federal Government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) comes into effect next July.Hanley said community expectations for environmentally friendly vehicles also forced the V8 LandCruiser into retirement.The Japanese giant launched a four-cylinder turbo-diesel version last year as a more efficient alternative to the vaunted V8 70 Series.Toyota had already effectively deleted the V8 70 Series from its line-up by pausing orders for the past two years.Production of the V8-powered wagon, troop carrier, Workmate and GX utes will end in September with existing orders expected to be filled by early 2025.Production of the high demand V8-powered GXL single and dual-cab utes will continue into next year with deliveries continuing until the end of 2025.Hanley couldn’t guarantee all existing V8 orders would be filled, though.“We're requesting the maximum possible allocation for Australia. We still have considerable time. It's our goal to fill those orders. That's what we want to do. So, we're working to fill those, we want to satisfy as many of those customers as possible,” said Hanley.“We'll have a better understanding of the number of V8s available for Australian customers when final production is allocated in the next few months. So we're working through that, but we're quite confident that we'll be able to get the majority, if not all.”Toyota is hoping to draw some customers away from the V8 LandCruiser by adding a new five-speed manual transmission to the previously auto-only four-cylinder LandCruiser 70 Series.Hanley said customers overwhelmingly wanted the V8 but was confident customers would warm to the four-cylinder version.“Clearly there's a preference still for V8, so we can't hide from that, that's reality,” said Hanley.“People want the V8 and culturally you can understand that and we understand that. So it's going to take some time for people to move, but what we are finding is once they drive the four cylinder, they experience the four-cylinder and the torque they moved to it.”“There will always be diehard V8 people. That's a fact of life.”

It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of new-model releases. Lately, product cycles have been getting ever shorter with China in particular’s immense speed of design, development and production eschewing traditional carmakers' usual six, seven or eight-year model replacements.But that doesn’t mean everyone wants the latest and greatest and, in Australia, there remains a huge appetite for familiar nameplates like the Mazda CX-3, MG3 and Nissan Patrol despite fresher models being available in the same class. In fact, until this year, the now nine-year-old Toyota HiLux has dominated sales charts. It’s taken the ‘T6.2’ Ford Ranger over a year to usurp Toyota’s ute despite its much newer cabin, more powerful engines and fresher tech. Even still, the Ranger held a slim 210 sale margin over the HiLux in May. It’s a little easier to imagine how ute buyers – those after a dependable, rugged vehicle with less concern for the latest and greatest – might be less interested in buying the newest model.Though the media expected the CX-30 to become Mazda’s new entry-level SUV, the plan all along was to sell them side by side. At 10 years old, the CX-3 is no spring chicken any more yet with 1300 sales in may it remains firmly ahead of the Yaris Cross and Hyundai Venue in the light SUV class. It is, amazingly, still more popular than the CX-30 (1010 sales in May) as well. Entry-level Pure leads the way as a first-car option that is bigger than a Mazda2 but not unwieldy. Safety features like AEB and collision warning feature and the CX-3 is a known quantity for both reliability and parts availability. MG is finally replacing the MG3 as it celebrates its 13th year on sale – such age is very rare in cars from China. In its final 31 days in dealerships as a ‘new’ model, 1077 MG3s were registered. This puts it leagues ahead of the Mazda2 and Toyota Yaris. The same vintage Mitsubishi ASX may not be quite as popular as a CX-3 (842 sales in May) though like the others in this list, the ASX is having a bumper year of over 5000 sales – up nearly 30 per cent on 2023. Nissan sold 622 Patrol off-roaders last month for 3274 year-to-date. That may be less than half of Toyota’s LandCruiser 300 Series volume but when you consider the basic design is 14 years old (and therefore cost is long since amortised), Nissan is doing very well. Like ASX, the Patrol’s sales are up for 2024 as well, by an impressive 46.3 per cent. Put that down to demand for the new rough-and-tumble Warrior model. We couldn’t write this article and ignore the oldest car on sale today in Australia. Celebrating its 40th year in production and continuing to sell incredibly is the 70 Series LandCruiser range. An iconic vehicle for Australians who buy more of these things than any other nation – mining fleet is a huge part but a renewed popularity with the off-road crowd helps, too.Toyota’s old fourby may not get another ANCAP test any time soon but the new four-cylinder turbo-diesel will extend its sales life further as emissions regulations take hold. There were 1096 sales of the LandCruiser 70 Series in May for a total of 5030 this year, not including Troop Carrier body styles. Its enduring popularity is unlikely to end soon, either, with the new downsized diesel carrying the ageing Toyota into its next decade of sales.

Those holding out to order a new V8-power Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series are out of luck.Orders of the V8-powered version of the legendary tough truck have been paused for about two years and the chances of them opening are slim, according to Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley.“At this stage I have no clear vision of that order bank opening again anytime soon. We’ve still got a way to go to clear what we’ve got,” said Hanley.“So I don’t foresee that order bank for V8 LandCruiser 70 Series opening any time soon.”The good news, for those with an existing order, is the company is now starting to fill that large order bank.“We are filling the orders as we speak, which is good for customers that have been waiting and we expect to be able to fill those orders,” said Hanley.The Federal Government's impending New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which will come into effect next year, had put a shadow of doubt over these long-standing orders being filled.Under the NVES, carmakers will be fined for every vehicle they sell that produces CO2 over a certain level. This level gets lower and lower every year and an old V8 diesel motor will not meet this new standard.Toyota has brought in a new four-cylinder version to help prolong the life of the rugged four-wheel drive.This four-cylinder version uses the same 2.8-litre turbo-diesel motor found in the HiLux and is paired with a six-speed automatic transmission.Hanley said at the time of the four-cylinder’s launch it would broaden its appeal even further, making it more accessible to a wider cross-section of customers than ever before.Now it appears customers will have no choice but to take the four-cylinder.Hanley indicated customers haven’t warmed to the smaller-engined 70 Series but he said the take-up rate for the four-cylinder was improving by the day.

There appears to be a loophole in ANCAP’s testing policy so big you can drive a truck through it.

The end of the LandCruiser 70 Series' diesel V8 engine could cost Toyota Australia a fortune, with the brand holding in excess of 2000 (in fact, far more than that) orders for its off-road icon – with customers it now needs to convert to a four-cylinder engine or risk losing entirely.

The latest 70 Series line-up has shown that Toyota is not completely ignoring customer feedback – introducing a HiLux 1GD-FTV 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine and Aisin six-speed automatic transmission choice to the range – but is the time right for another hardcore 4WD ute to knock the 70 off its perch? Something like the Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster, perhaps?

The Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series V8 order books may never reopen, and even current order holders aren't guaranteed a vehicle, as Toyota says New Vehicle Emissions Standard "puts those cars into question big time."

Toyota says the end is coming for its venerable V8 engine, with incoming Fuel Efficiency Standards to cause the its portfolio of vehicles in Australia to "alter considerably", including its popular 70 Series LandCruiser.

There's a very real chance that, if you're not in the queue already, you'll be too late for a 70 Series LandCruiser V8, with Toyota vowing to keep the order books closed until 2025 and a new Federal Government emission standard looming.

Another year means another fleet of vehicles sent to the big scrapyard in the sky, with flagging sales, a change in company direction or, in one potential case, too much popularity, all contributing to the end of times for some of the country's most well-known nameplates – and a few of the lesser-known ones, too.