Farewall Land Cruiser?

zimm

Expedition Leader
its a nameplate. all other aspects being the same, if toyota had a policy of a new name for every ground up new chassis, would you even care? if not, then why care now? If they slapped Bucket-o-******** on the side, the 200 would still be a pig. if they put LandCruiser on a highlander, would it make it an offroader?
 

toylandcruiser

Expedition Leader
Who cares ? It's just another fluffy, bloated, plastic ,suv. The fact that they only sell 3,000 a year tells you it's no big deal. 99.9% of the owners aren't going "expeditioning" If you really want to save it, tell 50,000 of your friends to start buying them.

That’s avg sales numbers since they started importing them.
 

UHAULER

Explorer
That’s quite the statement coming from a 2003 F150 driver.
I still don't get all the concern over this. If you are in the market for a high end luxury suv, there are plenty of others to chose from.
As far as the 03 f150, It has 275,000 miles and is a beater. I could pay cash for a new truck right now but I don't really need a better truck yet. Driving old junk has allowed me to retire 3 years ago at 50 and am now able to ride sweet single track on my motorcycle, from my house anytime I want. I really value my freedom and doing what I want.?
 

Riptide

Explorer
As far as the 03 f150, It has 275,000 miles and is a beater. I could pay cash for a new truck right now but I don't really need a better truck yet. Driving old junk has allowed me to retire 3 years ago at 50 and am now able to ride sweet single track on my motorcycle, from my house anytime I want. I really value my freedom and doing what I want.?

BOOM! Uhauler for the win. Good on ya, mate!
 

redthies

Renaissance Redneck
Well, I was gonna say that if you can't retire at 50 like Uhauler did, then he still won. On the other hand, your Airstream trailer restorations are absolutely amazing, so maybe you're doing exactly what you want anyway.

Looks like a tie to me, mates!

Thanks Rip! The Airstreams were going to be my retirement gig, but rolled into my full time thing at age 49. I’d say we are tied for sure. You gotta keep busy somehow, right?
 

ricardo

Observer
I still remember reading a interview with the beatles and when they ask them why they where breaking up, the answer was brilliant..

" Is better to do it when you are at the top"

personally after they Lc100 they stop counting for me, specially if the have the new Shark tooth Lexus front facia
 

toylandcruiser

Expedition Leader
I still remember reading a interview with the beatles and when they ask them why they where breaking up, the answer was brilliant..

" Is better to do it when you are at the top"

personally after they Lc100 they stop counting for me, specially if the have the new Shark tooth Lexus front facia

You own a 100 don’t you?
 

Dalko43

Explorer
You think Toyota is concerned that the 79 is going to rob sales from the 4runner? Not a chance....

I'd bet they'd sell less than less than 500 79 series to a handful of enthusiasts. There is simply no market for them domestically outside of folks on this website and IH8 mud....of which, only a handful would be willing to drop the ~$60k+ for a rig that is essentially 1980's technology.

I work with a guy from Africa, he shipped an Acura SUV and Mercedes ML back home from the US, spending thousands doing so for rigs that are cheap and common here. I showed him a pic of a 79 and told him he can get these back home easily, he just laughed and said I was nuts, they don't drive well, they are slow and uncomfortable and wasn't sure why anybody would drive them.

Lol...well by that some logic, the Ram 2500/3500's, F250/350's and Silverado HD, as well as Wranglers and Gladiators shouldn't sell well either....they don't drive particularly well and, while they do offer some luxurious options, the majority of vehicles sold are rather basic and spartan.

And yet, somehow all of those vehicles sell quite well in the North American market.

A Toyota 79 series landcruiser would sell well enough in North America. Crash testing and emissions are the only real hurdles Toyota would have to clear.

But this idea that there is no demand for hardcore 4x4's in North America is laughable. LC 200 doesn't sell well because it isn't priced well.
 
D

Deleted member 9101

Guest
I bought a 2019 Expedition last week. Its far more luxury and unwanted bling than I wanted but its a nice rig. Its it a trail rig? Hell no. It can tow a trail rig. Lol

It will probably get better fuel economy towing a trail rig than the LC gets empty...haha.
 

nickw

Adventurer
Lol...well by that some logic, the Ram 2500/3500's, F250/350's and Silverado HD, as well as Wranglers and Gladiators shouldn't sell well either....they don't drive particularly well and, while they do offer some luxurious options, the majority of vehicles sold are rather basic and spartan.

And yet, somehow all of those vehicles sell quite well in the North American market.

A Toyota 79 series landcruiser would sell well enough in North America. Crash testing and emissions are the only real hurdles Toyota would have to clear.

But this idea that there is no demand for hardcore 4x4's in North America is laughable. LC 200 doesn't sell well because it isn't priced well.

Ttake the typical American consumer and put two rigs in front of them for $70k a 'midsize' LC and a full size Domestic with much more capacity, 15 cupholder, fancy nav, etc, which one wins? Conversely, comparing size, Wrangler/Gladiator vs LC.....one is $50k the other is $70k, which one wins?

The LC is awesome for what it is, a midsize vehicle that has good capacity but it rides harsh, lacking tech and is not anything special offroad with it's stiff suspension. I think that's cool, but what we think is cool sure as &%*# doesn't mean it's going to sell well. It's a niche vehicle, full stop.

*Edit - here is the closest proxy to a LC79 we have for $25k less and several thousands pounds of capacity more. Std cab, expo white, 4:30 diffs, 36 gal tank, rear locker, vinyl floors & seats and the new big block gas engines all for $40k or less:

1574291837029.png

Slap some 33-35's on it, front winch bumper, front locker and you got yourself a domestic LC....you'd likely even have $$ leftover for a FWC and a trip to Baja and back.
 
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toylandcruiser

Expedition Leader
Seeing as Toyota has sold 10 million Cruisers of all models and types cumulatively since 1951 it probably always has been a niche vehicle.

When demand for a 4wd vehicle used daily really started to jump they introduced the 4x4 Hilux in 1979 and 4Runner in 1984 to meet it rather than ramp up the Cruiser production.

Not to mention around 7 million of the Cruiser sales have come just since 1996 when the 2nd gen Prado was introduced and it became more of a low volume model to complement the 40 and 70 series and 60/80/100/200 wagons.

For comparison they've sold 45 million Corollas since 1966 and 10 million of those just since 2010.

Yep the sales of land cruisers hasn’t changed much if any since at least the 80s. The sales numbers have stayed the same with a slight increase in the 90s.
 

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