Toyota is working on a sibling for the Land Cruiser

• Published date: 27 March 2024
• Author: KEINAN COHEN/WALLA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

To explain where, why, and how we need to look back at the history of the Land Cruiser. In 1985, a split occurred in the Land Cruiser family. Until that year, it consisted of two arms - a workhorse arm that included the tough "Series 70" and a terrain arm that was also suitable for more daily use and called "station wagon".At that time, it was the Land Cruiser 60 and in 1989 the 80. Toyota realized that a gap was forming between the two arms, a gap where customers interested in an off-road vehicle with high capabilities, but with refinement levels that would allow it to serve as a daily vehicle, and on the other hand, not be in the large dimensions and price tag of the 60 and the 80 series. The solution was the birth of a third arm - the light-duty versions softer for the rugged 70 initially, and later, starting from 1996, a completely redesigned and separate model

The dimensions of the 60 and later 80 series that were considered the "big and expensive" ones in the family stood at a length of 4.67 meters and a wheelbase of 273 cm in the 60 series, and the 80 series that was considered very large in its time had dimensions of 4.82 meters in its latest versions, and a wheelbase of 285 cm. Since then, as is customary in the industry, the business only grew and expanded to the exaggerated and unnecessary dimensions of today's Land Cruiser 300.

At the same time, the light-duty family also underwent an inflation process that was not stopped, and today's modern Land Cruiser 250 stretches to a total length of 4.92 meters with a wheelbase of 285 cm. This means that it is longer not only than the 60 and 80 series but also than the 100 series that replaced them, and in fact it is only 7 cm shorter than the 200 series that was...