Camouflaged test vehicle’s lack of a bonnet scoop suggests a smaller, possibly electrified powertrain is hiding under the bonnet
A semi-disguised Toyota LandCruiser 76 Series wagon has been spotted in Japan and it could be the first electrified 70 Series since the Japanese workhorse was introduced in 1984.
Still unavailable to order in Australia due to overwhelming demand, the 70 Series gained key safety and payload upgrades this year, in exchange for $1600 price hikes across the MY23 range.
Prior to that, the last major upgrade for the 39-year-old 70 Series came in 2016, when volume-selling single-cab ute versions received a more rigid ladder frame and side curtain and driver’s knee airbags to gain a fleet-friendly five-star ANCAP safety rating (two-door TroopCarrier, four-door pick-up and five-door wagon versions of the 70 Series remain unrated by ANCAP).
And before that the fitment of the 4.5-litre V8 turbo-diesel in 2007 required a wider front wheel track and front fascia, but the unexpected sighting of this 70 Series wearing a camouflaged front-end indicates another facelift is in store – at least for the Japan, where the 70 Series will return to showrooms later this year.
Apparently taken from security camera footage and published at the Kurdistan Automotive Blog’s Instagram account, the image is extremely low-resolution but just good enough to spot the elaborate black and white wrap adorning the wagon’s front-end and obscuring whatever Toyota’s development team isn’t ready for the world to see yet.
It’s hard to make out exactly what’s different due to the quality of the image, but this LandCruiser appears to wear a new front bumper, fresh wheels and revised headlights.
Japanese reports claim the domestic market’s 70 Series will receive a heritage-inspired black front bumper, round headlights and a black grille with retro ‘TOYOTA’ lettering like that seen on the 70th Anniversary special-editions in 2021.
So it’s unclear whether this prototype signifies a wider 70 Series facelift or if it’s simply a JDM product, but Toyota Australia is expected to announce another updated 70 Series range later this year, bringing minor exterior cosmetic changes, a touch-screen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
What’s more, the updated 70 Series is also expected to bring the option of a four-cylinder engine for the first time since 1991, matched to the model’s first automatic transmission since 1990.
Overseas reports have insisted that in addition to its existing five-speed manual V8 powertrain, the rugged workhorse will soon become available with the 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel that currently produces 150kW/500Nm in the Toyota HiLux, Prado and Fortuner – possibly even an electrified version.
Such outputs would mark a 50Nm improvement on the 70 Series’ venerable but hugely charismatic diesel V8 and markedly improve fuel consumption in the process, even when matched as standard with a six-speed automatic transmission.
However, the absence of the LC70’s signature bonnet scoop in this fresh spy shot on Instagram has not only triggered speculation in the comments section about whether Toyota’s final V8 model will lose its beloved 4.5-litre turbo-diesel in favour of the smaller powertrain, but also raises the prospect that the LC70’s downsized diesel engine will be equipped with the same ‘48-Volt [mild-hybrid] Technology’ coming to the HiLux in 2024.
Toyota Australia has previously said it’s confident that local 70 Series buyers would embrace a downsized and electrified powertrain if the vehicle continues to be a rugged and capable workhorse.
“I think they [buyers] probably would [accept a LandCruiser 70 Series four-cylinder hybrid] if it was capable of doing the things they wanted it to do,” Toyota Australia sales and marketing chief Sean Hanley told carsales in January.
“The key to anything that Toyota does and first and foremost in our thinking is fit for purpose in the market you operate in while still getting to that carbon-neutral position because that’s now high on the agenda.”
Hanley’s comments significantly pre-date last week’s confirmation that a mild-hybrid 2.8-litre turbo-diesel will become standard in selected Toyota HiLux variants from next year, promising a 10 per cent improvement in the popular pick-up’s fuel economy.
Kurdistan Automotive Blog labelled the spied LC70 as the 2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 (Japan) and although it remains unclear whether it’s a JDM-specific or global model, the launch timing of the facelifted 70 Series and electrified HiLux are looking very similar.
Image: kurdistan_automotive_blog
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Keyword: Facelifted Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series could be a hybrid