Toyota Reportedly Planning Small Land Cruiser EV
A new generation of Toyota Land Cruisers will arrive in the 2024 model year and may be joined by two electric siblings in the coming years.
Toyota unveiled the Compact Cruiser EV Concept in 2021 and the Land Cruiser Se Concept in 2023, Autocar reported Friday, as part of Toyota's plan to expand the Land Cruiser's nameplate appeal and maintain its presence in the zero-emissions world as the company reported that both concepts will go into production.
The Compact Cruiser EV looks like a smaller version of the 2024 Land Cruiser and is designed to appeal especially to younger urban buyers. Mercedes-Benz confirmed last September that it plans to target this segment with its battery-powered Baby G-Class. Land Rover is also rumored to be working on its own Baby Defender.
Reports from Japan suggest that Toyota will launch a vehicle like the Compact Cruiser EV as early as this year, but that the powertrain will be gas or possibly a hybrid, but Autocar has confirmed that the Compact Cruiser EV will still be manufactured, possibly with a BZ4X reportedly will use a version of Toyota's E-TNGA platform that underpins it. No release date was mentioned.
For Toyota enthusiasts who enjoy the rugged appeal of the Land Cruiser but want an EV with a touch of luxury, Toyota will reportedly offer a production version of the Land Cruiser Se concept. The concept is several inches longer than the 2024 Land Cruiser and features car-like unibody construction rather than the body-on-frame design typical of off-road vehicles. [According to Autocar, the luxury SUV could arrive in 2026 to celebrate the Land Cruiser's 75th anniversary and will feature Toyota's next-generation prismatic cell battery design, which is due around the same time. Toyota says the new battery design will enable an EV with a range of about 600 miles on a charge.
Toyota is already toying with the idea of an electric Land Cruiser; in 2021, Toyota built a prototype electric Land Cruiser based on a classic 1980s 70-series design.
