Yesterday

Toyota UK reveals new Land Cruiser Commercial

Hot on the heels of the new Hybrid, Toyota Professional unveils its flagship, Burnaston-converted model

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Had your fill of Toyota Land Cruiser news? No, us neither. No sooner do we have confirmation of the model’s impending transition to mild-hybrid status than Toyota UK drops a new model bombshell: behold the all-new Land Cruiser Commercial. If the thought of burly SUVs with the back seats ripped out leaves you cold, then stop reading now - nothing for you to see here. But if, like us, you’re partial to the idea of a Land Cruiser with up to 2,000 litres of hard-wearing loadspace, then welcome to the pinnacle of the Toyota Professional range. 

Of course, the manufacturer has been here before. There was a commercial version of the previous Land Cruiser and it was perfectly pleasant. But clearly the latest model, which is enjoying the sort of customer demand traditionally reserved for GR variants, offers Toyota the chance to park its tanks on Land Rover’s lawn. An entry-level Defender 110 Hard Top is priced from £63,445. The new Land Cruiser Commercial, with the familiar 2.8-litre motor and eight-speed auto, is from £52,729. 

Granted, the 3.0-litre oil burner in the D250 is light-years ahead of Toyota’s four-pot, but that saving is surely significant enough to give anyone pause for thought. Especially when the Land Cruiser’s reputation for bulletproof reliability and all-terrain talent gels so convincingly with the concept of a light commercial vehicle. Don’t want (or need) the full gambit of Hilux pickup capabilities - but want something more car-like that can also tow 3.5 tonnes and look right at home in a quarry? Job jobbed. 

Moreover, Toyota is promising a higher level of standard kit than in the Commercial’s predecessor, including 18-inch alloy wheels, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats and steering wheel, a power back door with opening window hatch and even dual-zone air con. You also get the 9-inch touchscreen and all the latest safety and driving assistance systems, if only so you can spend 30 seconds switching them all off. But Crawl Control and Downhill Assist Control are likely to come in handy if you are planning on making good use of the Land Cruiser’s permanent all-wheel-drive system. 

The crucial bit, obviously, occurs behind the driver’s seat. The Commercial’s transition to tradesman’s best friend requires the removal of the rear bench - replaced with an edge-to-edge floor tray - and the fitment of steel panel inserts in place of the windows. You also get a full-height metal bulkhead to allow you to fill the Land Cruiser with a small mountain of crap. Or useful items. Or whatever you can fit in a loadspace that’s 1,090mm high, 1,685mm long and a maximum of 1,286mm wide. 

Interestingly, the conversion process itself actually occurs at Toyota’s manufacturing facility at Burnaston - so you’ll have the added satisfaction of giving a UK workforce something to do. The bumf suggests that at a later date the powertrain will be ‘upgraded’ to incorporate the 48V hybrid system, but actually what it means is that at some point (i.e. when they’ve run out of existing Land Cruisers) they will switch to converting the newer version. If you’d rather not wait that long, the Commercial will go on sale from August 1st. First deliveries will kick off the following month - which suggests that TMUK is beavering away as we speak…

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• Every new Land Cruiser in Europe will be a hybrid
• All-new Toyota Land Cruiser launched

[oilit]

So have they left the glass in on the rear and put a metal panel on the inside?

I quite like this - not that I'm in the market for such a vehicle, would prefer this over a defender if i were!

[Cobalteer]

Diverting article but more heartened to find the subjunctive correctly deployed by the first poster.

[Billy_Whizzzz]

Loos a bit if a bodge - keeping the 4 doors etc. At least original Range Rover (and Discovery) commercials were 2 door plus hatch. This is how it should be done:

[biggbn]

Perfect car for me that

[BeastieBoy73]

oilit said:

So have they left the glass in on the rear and put a metal panel on the inside?

I quite like this - not that I'm in the market for such a vehicle, would prefer this over a defender if i were!

Yes, the glass will be left in. I worked on the line next to where they’ll be building these. They also build a van version of the Corolla estate but the windows are blocked out with vinyl decals on those.

[ChocolateFrog]

Price doesn't seem too horrendous, will only be a couple of years before it's worth more than it's Defender rival too.

[Phooey]

The price is plus VAT so approx £65k in a colour. Still good value though when you consider the running costs over 10yrs vs something like a Defender.

Proper tyres for them icy driveways -

Edited by Phooey on Tuesday 24th June 08:06

[Earthdweller]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

Loos a bit if a bodge - keeping the 4 doors etc. At least original Range Rover (and Discovery) commercials were 2 door plus hatch. This is how it should be done:

Interesting to see YAR appear again, it's a former Met Police covert communications vehicle

Think it's been for sale for a good while now at a silly price

[Silvanus]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

Loos a bit if a bodge - keeping the 4 doors etc. At least original Range Rover (and Discovery) commercials were 2 door plus hatch. This is how it should be done:

You need the side doors for access, I have a Mitsubishi Outlander Commercial, without the side doors it would be a right pain, and that's a fair bit shorter than this.

A petrol hybrid of some sort would be preferable to an ancient diesel.

[FlopperV60]

If only there was an option other than the 4 pot diesel, I would be on it straight away.

The straight 6 in the Defender is so superior, if I could put that unit into the Land Cruiser (with Toyota reliability) then it would be the perfect vehicle for me.

[smilo996]

Cannot get over just how high the front looks. Absurdly so.

[ChocolateFrog]

Phooey said:

The price is plus VAT so approx £65k in a colour. Still good value though when you consider the running costs over 10yrs vs something like a Defender.

Proper tyres for them icy driveways -

Edited by Phooey on Tuesday 24th June 08:06

Knew there must be a catch.

[Jon_S_Rally]

It's good that this exists. For me, I think I prefer the idea of a full five-seater, as you can fold the seats down and get most of the benefits, but still have rear seats when you want them. I'm sure there are some tax things in favour of the commercial variant however.

Billy_Whizzzz said:

Loos a bit if a bodge - keeping the 4 doors etc. At least original Range Rover (and Discovery) commercials were 2 door plus hatch. This is how it should be done:

I would imagine having the side doors is actually quite useful. It's a bit like the sliding side doors in a van, as it gives you access to the front of the load space, rather than having to climb across everything from the back.

[RazerSauber]

Really not a fan of the looks. Somehow looks like a Lego car, or one of the cars that Rockstar designs for their GTA games that are clearly based off something real.

[knebworth01]

Expect to see these will be coming to block pave your drive anytime soon!

[ChevronB19]

Proper commercials should have proper steel replacing the rear windows, not some badly fitted panel covering the existing ones.

[fortfive]

knebworth01 said:

Expect to see these will be coming to block pave your drive anytime soon!

Or a hoard of camper conversions. Quite fancy one.

[CG2020UK]

Phooey said:

The price is plus VAT so approx £65k in a colour. Still good value though when you consider the running costs over 10yrs vs something like a Defender.

Proper tyres for them icy driveways -

Edited by Phooey on Tuesday 24th June 08:06

Looks far better in this colour than the white shown

[Snow and Rocks]

knebworth01 said:

Expect to see these will be coming to block pave your drive anytime soon!

Every new Defender that I know of locally here in Aberdeenshire is driven by someone who lays tar for a living. Not sure this is blingy enough for them.

I wish Toyota would figure out a way to bring in more sensibly specced and priced Land Cruisers. This is a start but still expensive compared to what you can get overseas.

[shirt]

Shouldn’t that reg plate be on a hilux?