Toyota Land Cruiser Prado's Latest Package Brings It Back to Black

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Toyota sells the Land Cruiser Prado in other markets, which is the equivalent of our Lexus GX without the fancy badge and trimmings. Smaller than the Toyota Land Cruiser sold here in the United States, the Prado also offers a diesel engine and different styling cues. Newly refreshed, the SUV gets a sleek Black Pack that makes us wish—even more than we usually do—the Prado would find its way to our shores.

The Black Pack doesn't put the Land Cruiser Prado into full stealth mode, but it adds a number of dark accents to the exterior and interior. First off, it gets special bumpers with additional aero elements. A dark chrome front grille pairs with black fog lamp bezels, black mirrors, and black door trim. In the rear, the model features a dark rear garnish and clear rear lamp clusters. Black wheels and onyx badging complete the look.

As much as the Black Pack freshens up the SUV's appearance, we have to admit we wouldn't trade the Land Cruiser Heritage Edition for it. Carrying over through the 2021 model year, the special SUV features bronze accents on the wheels and interior stitching. It also gets darkened exterior chrome surrounds and trim-specific badging.

Along with the Black Pack, the refreshed Prado receives a more powerful 2.8-liter diesel engine that produces around 200 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque. An upgraded multimedia system is also on the docket and promises faster response times.

Pushing 70, the Land Cruiser is Toyota's longest-running nameplate. Last year, Toyota announced it sold its 10 millionth Land Cruiser. We hope our Land Cruiser (and the Lexus GX and LX, for that matter) get a real update soon, as the SUV's underpinnings are quite old.

The Toyota Land Cruiser Is Dead, Long Live the Toyota Land Cruiser

 

When was the last time you saw a Toyota Land Cruiser? You can't go a block without seeing multiple 4Runners, Highlanders, Tacomas, and RAV4s—or even the occasional Sequoia—but spotting any generation of a Land Cruiser is a rarity. For all its name recognition and iconic history, there just aren't that many running around the U.S. And after the model-year 2021 iterations are built, there will be no new ones sold in America, at least for a while.

We first heard rumblings of the Land Cruiser's demise in the States more than a year ago when multiple sources at Toyota hinted to MotorTrend that the Land Cruiser was in trouble. Although at the time Toyota PR officially denied any such possibility existed, the automaker has finally acknowledged that its legendary nameplate is leaving American dealerships soon:

The Toyota Land Cruiser has been a legendary name for more than 60 years. While it will be discontinued in the United States after the 2021 model year, we remain committed to the large SUV segment and will continue to explore future products that celebrate the Land Cruiser's rich off-road history. We encourage loyal enthusiasts and intrepid adventurers to stay tuned for future developments. 

The Toyota Land Cruiser is the company's longest-running nameplate and has long been revered for its ability to do, well, exactly what it says in its name: cruise the land, no matter the terrain. It's reliable and comfortable, and has a cult-like following due to its rich heritage and military roots. Older vintage models (like those we recently drove) have proven increasingly popular among collectors, as reflected by the large sums of money now required to acquire a good one.

Today, though, few in the market for a new, highly off-road-capable vehicle gravitate toward a Land Cruiser; there's simply too much competition in the large SUV segment, and Toyota itself has limited sales by giving the SUV virtually zero marketing support. The most recent Land Cruiser, known as the 200 Series, dates back to the 2008 model year, with just 35,000 sold since in the U.S.—the highest annual sales were in 2008, with 3,801 moved. Availability was definitely a compounding issue for the North American Land Cruiser—global factory capacity for the Land Cruiser can't be increased without building or retooling a new assembly location, meaning every market fights over the same annual volume—while despite its capability and high levels of luxury, status-obsessed buyers aren't likely to fork over its lofty base price ($86,780 for 2020) for something wearing a Toyota badge. Heritage can only move so many of these things, after all.

Of course, this isn't the end for the Land Cruiser elsewhere, as it will continue in other world markets. Toyota's statement leaves open the possibility of a return sometime in the near future, if not of a vehicle with the LC name perhaps one with its spirit. What that means exactly—maybe the Sequoia gets renamed?—we hope to find out soon. For now, though, the Toyota Land Cruiser is dead. Long live the Toyota Land Cruiser.

Next-Gen Toyota Land Cruiser Caught Showing Its Evolutionary Style

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The next-gen Toyota Land Cruiser SUV is due to look a lot like the current one. Well, that's if spy pictures of the internally named 300-series Land Cruiser that recently appeared on social media sites are to be believed. 

Admittedly, the evolutionary styling of Toyota's newest iteration of its flagship SUV comes as little surprise. After all, the big box's basic design has remained much the same for decades. Still, images posted to the 

"Instagram account ""Land Cruiser Updates"" give us a better idea of what to expect from the new Toyota 4x4, including its redesigned front and rear ends, as well as its interior. "

While the latest Land Cruiser appears to maintain the current 200-series model's big and boxy stature, it does appear to adopt more modern design details. Better yet, the next-gen SUV's styling looks more cohesive. Credit a mug that cleanly merges the Land Cruiser's headlight decor with that of its massive grille, as well as taillights that better blend into the vehicle's shapely rear haunches. 

Bigger changes, however, seem set to appear within the new Land Cruiser's cabin. Whereas the current Land Cruiser features a dashboard design with an upright center stack, the new one seems to incorporate an angled setup that locates the SUV's infotainment and climate controls within an easier reach for the driver. As in other Toyota products, a big infotainment screen juts up from the top of the stack. Switches for engaging various off-road toys seem to confirm the 300-series Land Cruiser won't lose any of its predecessors' off-road capabilities. In fact, we wager this Land Cruiser will only improve upon the off-tarmac competence of the current model. 

Alas, it seems we Yanks might not want to get too excited about the new 300-series Land Cruiser, as Toyota apparently has no immediate plans to ship it to our shores. Nevertheless, the SUV's Lexus-badged luxury counterpart, the LX, is still due to make its way to America. While the 300-series-based LX is likely to sport vastly different styling from the new Land Cruiser (both inside and out), the Lexus SUV still ought to maintain much of the off-road kit of its Toyota kin as well as its basic proportions. Whether Lexus satiates our off-road desires by offering the next LX with an off-road package that adds the likes of knobby tires and possible alterations to the front and rear fascias to improve the SUV's approach and departure angle is still a mystery. Still, we can dream.