Electric Toyota LandCruiser one step closer to reality

Newly-confirmed plans for a seven-seat Toyota electric SUV in the US could see the electric Toyota LandCruiser concept unveiled at the Tokyo motor show last year come to reality from the middle of this decade.

Last week Drive reported on unconfirmed US rumours claiming a new seven-seat electric SUV confirmed to be built at Toyota's Kentucky factory from 2025 would be the next Highlander, the North American name for the Kluger.

Toyota has now announced it will also build an unrelated seven-seat electric SUV at its factory in Indiana.

While it was initially thought the Indiana-built vehicle could be the next Kluger/Highlander – given it is the plant where the current model is produced – industry journal Automotive News reports the Indiana SUV will be larger than the vehicle built in Kentucky.

The Japanese car giant has not named either vehicle, so there is a chance the Kentucky-made SUV could be the next Kluger – and the Indiana-built seven-seater could be an electric counterpart to the half-a-size-larger Grand Highlander (not sold in Australia), which is currently made in Indiana.

But the confirmation from a Toyota spokesperson the Indiana-built vehicle is larger – and has three rows of seats – opens up the possibility of a showroom version of the LandCruiser SE electric concept revealed at last year's Tokyo motor show.

Following its reveal in October 2023, sales and marketing boss of Toyota Australia, Sean Hanley, told media an electric Toyota LandCruiser could be due in showrooms by the end of the decade.

"What this is giving you a pointer to is that we're ready. We're prepared. And if these cars come into production, I can assure you Australia, particularly LandCruiser, would be the first one (on our wish list)," Mr Hanley said at the time.

Toyota Japan says the Indiana-made electric SUV is due in showrooms in 2026.

According to Tim Hollander, President of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, the new car won’t feature a skateboard-style platform typically found in electric vehicles, but would rather be “chassis-based”.

It is unclear if that means it would be an electric version of an existing petrol or diesel-powered vehicle – or would use a ladder-chassis architecture similar to a ute.

Following the $1.3 billion investment in its Kentucky facility, Toyota has confirmed a fresh $US1.4 billion investment in its Princeton, Indiana facility – making for a total of $US8 billion spent on the factory, which will also create 340 new jobs.

In addition to producing a new electric large SUV, the cash injection, Toyota says, will go towards building a new battery pack assembly line using lithium-ion batteries supplied by its manufacturing site in North Carolina, a $13.9 billion factory slated to begin production in 2025.

Toyota’s Indiana plant employs more than 7500 staff who assemble the Toyota Sienna people mover and Highlander, as well as the Toyota Grand Highlander and its Lexus twin, the TX.