Any new changes for the '15 model?

[soslo]

What clean burning Toyota diesel do you speak of?

The only Toyota diesel truck engine really is the 4.5L single/double turbo V8.

Other than that, it's Hino engines or put a Cummins in it.

yes, Cummins 5.0
http://blog.caranddriver.com/toyota-tundra-does-a-titan-move-turns-to-cummins-for-a-diesel-v-8/

LR is not a good comparison mainly due to economies of scale, demographic, and the design intention and goals of the LC platform as designated by both Toyota as well as the chief engineer Sadiyoshi Koyari.

Actually LR is a good comparison. While I can't reveal sources, I can say that I have contacts at both Toyota and LR and they reference each other quite a bit. For the past 18 months I've spoken personally with engineers and the dir of mktg at LR specifically about Land Cruiser. Overseas, their market segments overlap quite a bit more than they do here in the States.

 

[OGBeno]

yes, Cummins 5.0
http://blog.caranddriver.com/toyota-tundra-does-a-titan-move-turns-to-cummins-for-a-diesel-v-8/

No verification of this except rumor. As with all things Toyota, I won't believe it till I see it.

Actually LR is a good comparison. While I can't reveal sources, I can say that I have contacts at both Toyota and LR and they reference each other quite a bit. For the past 18 months I've spoken personally with engineers and the dir of mktg at LR specifically about Land Cruiser. Overseas, their market segments overlap quite a bit more than they do here in the States.

I would love to see some empirical evidence of this. LR might like to think they compete in the world market, but we all know the reality.

And talking with marketing numbskulls is way different than design engineers.

 

[soslo]

Well, you won't get empirical evidence. Take it with a grain of salt. This isn't a courtroom where we have to prove things to each other.
It is a little ignorant to call the dir of mktg for LR a numbskull, especially since you don't know him.

 

[OGBeno]

Well, you won't get empirical evidence. Take it with a grain of salt. This isn't a courtroom where we have to prove things to each other.
It is a little ignorant to call the dir of mktg for LR a numbskull, especially since you don't know him.

It was meant tongue-in-cheek.

I am sure the Director of Marketing for Land Rover is a very smart man. He wouldn't be there if he wasn't.

I'm just saying that while LR might see the Land Cruiser as it's competition in the US, Toyota does not. Toyota doesn't view the US as a primary market for the LC whereas LR does--at least amongst the rarefied clientele that LR covets.

If Toyota's LC/LX sales dropped by 50% in the US, they would still continue selling the LC/LX here mainly because they already have stupid margins on them and they sell these vehicles 10,000:1 in the GCC, Oceania, Africa and to the UN/NGO market segment. LR's market is one of prestige and perception of prestige in the US. The LC market worldwide is one based on the most important marquee of prestige: survival. LR cannot compete with Toyota at that globalized level.

 

[OGBeno]

First I have heard of any Toyota executive giving definitive information for the 2015 LC200.

http://www.drivearabia.com/news/201...ontinue-land-cruiser-redesign-2015-dubai-uae/

 

[flyfish4life]

Excellent find Beno. Do you see this as a second facelift or possibly an all-new model? I know the second facelift fits the timeline of the 80 and 100 series (roughly 10 model years), but who says Toyota has to follow that this time around... The 200 underwent a significant facelift for MY 2013, especially interior-wise; just would be surprised if they go through the re-tool expense for yet another facelift in such a short timespan.

My biggest gripe is that the size has gotten a tweak large and the back-end of the 200 needs a serious make-over. Somewhere between the 80 and 100 series size would be ideal. Also wonder if Toyota goes more boxy this time with less curves like the RR and newest GM SUVs and the pre-200 LC models?

 

[GX-R]

I would say if this is indeed true, then it must be sometime in 2015 as a 2016MY, The LX 2015 product info has been released with no changes and as the twin of the LC they change together.
http://pressroom.lexus.com/releases/lexus+2015+lx+570+product+specs.htm

I also remember reading that the LX will be released in Japan next year, so maybe align an update with it's release to the Japanese market for the first time under the Lexus name ( previously known as the Land Cruiser Cygnus, which for now has been succeeded by the Land Cruiser ZX )


+

Recently, a brochure which contained information about upcoming Land Cruiser models for the Japanese market leaked on the internet. The 70 series is celebrating its 30th anniversary and Toyota decided to let the other LC members join in on the celebrations by having special editions for the Japanese market for the Prado and LC200. This also marks the first time the 70 is sold domestically in Japan in 10 years.

 

[GX-R]

Update

No changes for the US market MY2015 LC200.

Product info was released today.
http://pressroom.toyota.com/releases/2015+toyota+land+cruiser+suv+luxury.htm

http://pressroom.toyota.com/releases/2015+toyota+land+cruiser+product+specs.htm

 

[Overlake]

It was meant tongue-in-cheek.

I am sure the Director of Marketing for Land Rover is a very smart man. He wouldn't be there if he wasn't.

I'm just saying that while LR might see the Land Cruiser as it's competition in the US, Toyota does not. Toyota doesn't view the US as a primary market for the LC whereas LR does--at least amongst the rarefied clientele that LR covets.

If Toyota's LC/LX sales dropped by 50% in the US, they would still continue selling the LC/LX here mainly because they already have stupid margins on them and they sell these vehicles 10,000:1 in the GCC, Oceania, Africa and to the UN/NGO market segment. LR's market is one of prestige and perception of prestige in the US. The LC market worldwide is one based on the most important marquee of prestige: survival. LR cannot compete with Toyota at that globalized level.

Whoever you are, you know your cars and how big auto thinks.

Im staring at my quarterly land rover magazine they send me. It's all about land rover lifestyle and in the back pages they sometimes have actual car related articles.

Yes, I called them cars these new range rover models. They're lifted unibodies now aka sedans with bigger air suspension units on them. Durability and reliability are mere cliff notes in their design language. For land cruisers, they're the plot. Land rover as a brand attracts the I'm rich and I want people to know it audience just like the rest of the euro badge hugging audience.

The power of marketing is as important if not more than feats of engineering in the automotive space these days or so it seems?

 

[stonepa]

That being said, I offroaded a new Range Rover last year and it was absolutely amazing what that vehicle could do on stock tires. If the long term reliability was fixed I would strongly consider a RR next time. Of course, they won't ever be able to fix those issues so it's LX / LC for me for the long haul.

 

[Overlake]

This is why Land Cruiser.

http://blogs.motortrend.com/1312_the_big_picture_my_favorite_toyota.html

"There are times when the Land Cruiser handles a bit like a water buffalo in a boghole -- the new Range Rover has much more precise steering and better body control. But on-road finesse is not why you buy a Land Cruiser. You buy one because in a country where the relentless pounding from outback roads will literally shake a Jeep to bits, where the next gas station could be 350 miles away, where a quarter inch of rain can turn talcum-powder dust into bottomless mud, a Land Cruiser will get you home.

My vehicle had come from Sydney to Darwin in convoy with a new Range Rover and a Mercedes-Benz GL via the Simpson Desert, a 2500-mile run that includes some of the outback's most isolated tracks. The Rangie blew both rear shocks, and the Benz developed a mysterious clunk in the front suspension. The Land Cruiser felt like it had just driven off the showroom floor."

A sausage middle finger to manufactured obsolescence from Toyota.

 

[Corbet]

If only we could get the 4.5 liter twin turbo diesel as part of a 2015 change up.