Toyota’s Next-Gen Land Cruiser Set To Ditch V8 Engines

The next-generation Toyota Land Cruiser is set to go on sale in 2021 and according to a new report, will ditch the V8 engines it’s currently available with.

Buyers looking to pick up a current Land Cruiser can opt to have the SUV fitted with a 4.5-liter turbo-diesel and a 4.6-liter V8 petrol, depending on the market. However, Car Advice reports that these two engines will be phased out due to ever-tightening emissions standards around the world.

For what it’s worth, Toyota is refusing to comment on the reports of the V8 Land Cruiser going the way of the dodo but the company’s head of product planning and development in Australia, Bernard Nadal, did recently state that most brands are “shifting down from V8s” and indicated that Toyota could do the same.

Also Read: 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser Is Very Good, But Does It Justify An $85,000 Price Tag?

“Toyota is clearly a leader in hybrid technology,” Nadal said. “The European [brands] have gone typically to turbocharging diesel engines. With the struggles they’re having in Europe today, we know a lot of them will move across to turbocharging petrol [engines].”

The current train of thought is that when the new-age Land Cruiser arrives, it will be offered with both V6 turbo-diesel and V6 turbo petrol engines. The Japanese car manufacturer will then draw on its decades of experience with hybrid technologies by selling the big off-roader with at least one V6 hybrid powertrain.

Toyota insists that despite downsizing the engines in the Land Cruiser family, the vehicle will remain as capable as ever.

“The current hybrid take-up [of Toyotas] is amazing. It’s going very, very well for us, not just in Australia but also in key European markets and in America. That’s a fair sign of where we’re going,” Nadal said.