Toyota patrons and SUV fans, drop what you're doing because we've got news for you. Apparently, the Japanese automaker is killing off the Land Cruiser soon.
However, take this with a healthy dash of salt or put the whole canister even, as nothing has been confirmed at this point.
The news came from Motor Authority, which cited a now-deleted post on IH8MUD.com – a website and forum for everything Land Cruiser. According to the post, Toyota will discontinue the Land Cruiser nameplate after the 2021 model year, while the Lexus LX will live on but with a turbo V6 instead of the current 5.7-liter V8.
Motor Authority also cited a dealer source confirming the rumor, who said that "there's no illusion it's coming back and it's completely dead for the moment." The source wishes to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
The same source also told the publication that for the 2021 model year, the Land Cruiser Heritage Edition will return with a third row. This special LC was introduced at the Chicago Auto Show in 2019 for the 2020 model year, with a price tag that hovers around the $80,000 mark.
While the rumor is completely unconfirmed by the automaker at the time of this writing, it isn't quite unfounded based on the Land Cruiser's age. Of note, the current J200 generation has been around since 2007, with no concrete reports of a successor. It made do with only numerous facelifts to keep the styling fresh and attractive for the SUV-hungry market.
We'll know more if this report holds true in the months or years to come but for what it's worth, we sure do hope we got this one wrong for the iconic nameplate's sake.
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