Toyota Australia has confirmed it has strong interest in bringing the freshly revealed Land Cruiser SE SUV to local shores if Toyota approves the electric Land Cruiser for production.
The brand’s local vice president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley confirmed to Chasing Cars that the chances of getting the vehicle are “extremely good for us”.
“What this is giving you is a pointer to that we are ready [for an all-electric Land Cruiser], we are prepared.
The new Toyota Land Cruiser SE electric concept
“If these cars come into production, I can assure you Australia, particularly for Land Cruiser, we will be the first to put our hand up”.
The Land Cruiser SE will likely live alongside a hybrid Land Cruiser, with Mr Hanley saying that “we may run this [the SE] in parallel with other technologies”.
“There may be that market that says, hey, I’m happy to have that Land Cruiser BEV. I’m happy to do the town run, but if I want to do the towing and the long range, I’ve got a hybrid Land Cruiser” he added.
What could a future Land Cruiser look like in Australia?
Chasing Cars understands that a future local Land Cruiser lineup is very likely to include the new Land Cruiser SE electric SUV, but that it will exist alongside the current 300 Series rather than a complete replacement.
The Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series is unlikely to be replaced any time soon by an all electric model
Toyota understands that it would be ditching a very popular piece of the Australian new car market by opting to only go BEV for Land Cruiser in the future.
It’s therefore more likely that rather than an electric Land Cruiser replacing the entire 300 Series lineup, the EV newcomer will sit as more of a city-centric version that still retains some off-road credentials.
Toyota Australia’s Sean Hanley posed the question to Chasing Cars: “what car, right now, that is BEV that can do all that in Australia (tow and travel long remote distances) the same as a Land Cruiser?”
The Toyota Land Cruiser SE is likely to be more of a city lifestyle focus
Interestingly, Toyota also remarked that the Land Cruiser SE could run alongside other technologies – a possible hint at the very likely future hybrid Toyota Land Cruiser.
What is the Land Cruiser SE, and what could it be like?
The Land Cruiser SE has made its very recent debut at the 2023 Tokyo Mobility Show as the brand’s first fully-electric off-road SUV.
Styled as more of a Range Rover lifestyle-type vehicle, the SE has a wheelbase of 3050mm, an overall length of 5150mm, 1990mm in width and 1705mm in height.
We expect the Land Cruiser SE concept to go into production soon!
Chasing Cars understands that the future Land Cruiser SE is likely to use a dual-motor setup powering all four wheels.
We haven’t yet seen inside of the Land Cruiser concept vehicle, however we can expect much more information about the model in the coming months.
A release date or even production date has not yet been disclosed.