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2017 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series:: Australian updates confirmed for fourth-quarter launch – UPDATE

UPDATE, June 29: The 70 Series update was originally listed with trailer sway control. This has been confirmed as incorrect: the function will not be offered with the 70 Series in any market. See bottom of article for more. 


The workhorse 2017 Toyota Landcruiser 70 Series will come packing some much-needed safety equipment fitted as standard, the company has confirmed today, while also benefiting from extensive local testing.

Scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of this year, the 2017 Toyota Landcruiser 70 Series gets an upgrade to Euro 5 emissions compliance for its 4.5-litre V8 turbo-diesel engine.

For the new model year, all variants will be equipped with stability control and traction control, hill-start assist and electronic brake-force distribution (EBD).

Toyota is also expecting the single-cab variant, the most popular option in the range, to have its ANCAP safety rating upgraded to a full five stars - compared to three for the wider 70 Series family - thanks to driver/passenger curtain airbags and driver's knee airbags being added to the existing complement of two front airbags.

Toyota’s official announcement of the updated 70 Series range follows a statement made by the company last September - that a significant safety upgrade should see the new model achieve a five-star ANCAP safety rating for the first time - and confirms the details of our recent report that outlined some of the upgrades for the 2017 model-year.

According to the Japanese car maker, Australian engineers subjected the updated Landcruiser 70 Series to over 100,000 kilometres of testing in some of the country’s harshest conditions, with around 70 per cent of this testing conducted off-road - from corrugated dirt roads to rugged cattle properties with severe washouts.

In addition to the safety upgrades, the new 70 Series range will be fitted with new injectors for better low-down engine response, and the manual transmission has been revised to improve fuel economy, and lower noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels.

A stiffer frame with thicker side rails will further increase overall refinement, Toyota says, while also improving handling and stability.

Tony Cramb, Toyota Australia’s executive sales director, said the updates were made possible by a substantial commitment of engineering resources and investment by the company in Japan and in Australia.

“The upgraded 70 Series Landcruiser range builds on this iconic vehicle’s fit-for-purpose appeal with improvements that reinforce its heavy-duty abilities, durability and unapologetically rugged character,” he said.

“At the same time - it receives important safety and emissions updates that are required by many customers - as well as regulators - to enable Toyota to continue selling the 70 Series in the Australian market.”

While no pricing has been announced yet for the updated 70 Series Landcruiser, expect those details to be released closer to the model’s fourth quarter launch in just over a month’s time.

70 Series future

As for the long-term future of Toyota's workhorse 70 Series line, the company says it has ensured that future development will continue - although it has yet to specifically confirm a next-generation plan.

"Toyota (Both in Japan and Australia) have invested heavily to ensure we can continue to meet strong customer demand for the 70 Series range for many years to come," Toyota Australia communications manager Stephen Coughlan told CarAdvice today.

"This confirms our parent company understands the importance of the range in our extremely tough conditions and demonstrates its willingness to support our product line-up wherever possible.

"We have nothing further to announce at this time beyond the significant safety upgrade for all variants to occur in the last quarter of this year."


UPDATE: This article was originally published on June 27. Toyota has since released an updated statement to confirm that its original press release had listed trailer sway control among the 70 Series' updates. The company says it has "since been advised" the feature will not be included here, or in any other market.

"This will not affect the targeted ANCAP five-star safety achievement of the single cab-chassis," the company added.

"All other details in the release remain unchanged, including the standard fitment across the range of vehicle stability and traction control."

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