The Toyota Land Cruiser is Back for 2024, and This Time It's Retro

The Toyota Land Cruiser is back. The big luxury off-roader returns to Canada for the first time since leaving in the late 1990s. But it's not going to be the gigantic beast Toyota revealed with the Land Cruiser name back in 2021. Instead, it will be something smaller, more agile, and with styling a lot more like the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Toyota's 2006-2014 FJ Cruiser was a retro callback to the original FJ40 that Toyota built from 1960 through 2001. The FJ40 was the model that most fans thought of when the Land Cruiser name came up, becoming an icon anywhere a rough-and-tumble pickup or SUV was needed around the world.

For the 2024 Land Cruiser, Toyota's North American design team wanted to go retro again, and so many of the same styling cues used on the FJ Cruiser are back. They start with the round headlights, which are featured prominently on 1958 and First Edition trim grades. From there, the design is, well, blocky. If a Lego kit is ever built of this Land Cruiser, it might be the kit that most closely resembles the original.



 

Toyota is showing off the 2024 Land Cruiser in a two-tone blue and white that exaggerates the almost cartoon-level of retro design. There will be more colours, including the beige model shown that will look at home deep in the wilderness.

The Land Cruiser shares much of its parts with the Lexus GX, including its 2.4L turbo-four hybrid driveline. For the Cruiser, that powertrain makes 326 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque. The hybrid system will use an eight-speed automatic and will have full-time 4x4 with a standard locking centre differential and low-range transfer case.



Like the GX, the Land Cruiser uses the Toyota TNGA-F architecture. This is the same basic frame that underpins the Tundra and Tacoma as well as the Toyota Sequoia. The frame uses laser welding and other techniques to deliver rugged capability and a tow rating of up to 6,000 lbs.

With the addition of the 2024 Land Cruiser, Toyota's SUV lineup is getting a bit crowded. This one fits in between the current 4Runner and Sequoia, but a 4,920 mm overall length (and seating for five) makes it much closer to the 100 mm shorter 4Runner than the 360 mm longer Seqoia.

On the inside, the Land Cruiser will get an 8.0-inch touchscreen and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The Land Cruiser will offer over-the-air updates and will come with Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 as standard.





The entry trim is called Land Cruiser 1958 and it gets the round lights and classic grille. It will also have a locking rear diff, adjustable-colour fog lights, heated seats and wheel, and a 2,400w power inverter.

Land Cruiser, the next grade, adds a front stabilizer bar disconnect for better suspension articulation off-road. It also comes with a 12.3-inch screen, SofTex fake leather seats, Multi-Terrain Select drive modes, and Multi-Terrain Monitor camera views. This is the one with the square lamps, which are a nod to a later series of the Land Cruiser.

At the top of the pile is the Land Cruiser First Edition. Toyota is building just 5,000 for North America and it comes with round LED lights plus a tailgate light, back door guard, leather, and roof rack and rock rails.

The 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser is expected to hit dealers next spring, and Toyota will make pricing available closer to the on-sale date.