Last year, Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz said the company was “taking a hard look at all of the segments that we compete in to make sure we are competing in profitable segments and that products we sell have strategic value.”
The results of the review remain unclear, but it was widely believed that Toyota was planning to eliminate a number of slow selling models. Fast forward to today and it appears the Land Cruiser could be living on borrowed time – in America at least.
Nothing is official, but Motor Trend’s Jonny Lieberman took to Instagram to post that the Land Cruiser will be dropped in the United States after the 2022 model year. Jalopnik reached out to Toyota for comment and was told the “Land Cruiser is a global icon that embodies Toyota’s reputation for reliability, durability and capability. Although we cannot comment on future product, we can confirm that no decision has been made to stop sales of the Land Cruiser in the U.S. at this time.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1XPVKHBKMq/
The statement seems to suggest the Land Cruiser isn’t going away anytime soon, but it seems to leave the future open-ended. Regardless, it’s not hard to understand why Toyota might be considering dropping the luxury off-roader.
Carsalesbase data shows Toyota sold 3,235 units in the United States last year and has only moved 1,877 through July of 2019. The modest sales aren’t too surprising as the Land Cruiser starts at $85,165 which makes it nearly $35,000 more expensive than the Sequoia.
Also Read: 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition Celebrates The 4×4’s Beginnings
Complicating matters even further is the Lexus LX 570 which starts at $86,380. While it’s similar to the Land Cruiser, Lexus managed to sell 4,753 LXs in United States last year.
Given the overlap between the two models, it appears the most successful will survive. In this case, it’s the Lexus LX as Lieberman says the redesigned 2023 model will be offered in America even though the Land Cruiser won’t.
