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Toyota LandCruiser V8 dead: yet another report spells the end of an icon

Read it and weep, Toyota LandCruiser V8 fans. Yet another report claims Toyota is well progressed with plans to phase out V8 petrol and diesel power for its heavy duty four-wheel-drives globally.


And yes, tragically, that includes the next generation Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series, and any updates to the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series workhorses.

All of them are likely to get V6 turbo diesel power and/or a V6 petrol hybrid option; none of this has yet been confirmed.

However, we now have a lot more detail on the timeline and plans for Toyota to phase out V8 production globally.

While Drive first reported last year about the death of the Toyota LandCruiser V8, several news stories have appeared since.

Now a new report out of the US has the most detail we’ve seen so far.

The website thedrive.com has reported that Toyota “will be winding down the mass production” of its V8 engines “over the next three years” and replacing them with a new range of V6 engines.

 

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The website said its information came from “a source familiar with the automaker’s US manufacturing operations”.

We reckon thedrive.com is on the money because (a) Toyota is notoriously private about its future model plans (even more than most other manufacturers), (b) the website has a lot of detail that we’ve not seen before, and (c) the new information sounds plausible against the backdrop of stricter global emissions standards.

Website thedrive.com says next generation US market models such as the Toyota Tundra, Toyota Sequoia, and the global Toyota LandCruiser will get V6 power.

“Toyota’s Huntsville, Alabama, facility is just one of two factories in the world that builds Toyota's V8s,” thedrive.com report said.

“The other (V8 factory) being the advanced Tahara plant in Japan, which also produces LandCruisers and Lexus flagship models.”

The report in thedrive.com claims the Japanese V8 factory is “due to stop (producing V8s) first, sometime in the next 12 to 18 months,” according to a source.

 

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The website thedrive.com says the Alabama V8 factory “is in the midst of machining enough parts to pre-build 30,000 extra V8 engines for the current Tundra and Sequoia over the next year (or so)”.

“Once those parts are ready, all the V8 tooling will be replaced with a new setup to produce turbo V6s, and once the final V8s are actually built, the assembly line will be converted as well,” thedrive.com report claimed.

Representatives for Toyota in the US and Australia declined to comment on speculation about the future of the V8.

In the recent past, Toyota Australia executives have insisted the next generation Toyota LandCruiser – believed to be due in 2022 – will still be “highly capable”.

“We understand the passion of our customers and we understand their needs,” said Toyota Australia head of sales and marketing Sean Hanley.

Some Toyota LandCruiser V8 fans have begun buying up the last of the current generation model because they don’t want to lose the V8.

Other Toyota LandCruiser fans say they will wait for the new model, which promises to have more power than the current V8 and yet will be more fuel efficient.

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Joshua Dowling

Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, spending most of that time working for The Sydney Morning Herald (as motoring editor and one of the early members of the Drive team) and News Corp Australia. He joined CarAdvice / Drive in 2018, and has been a World Car of the Year judge for more than 10 years.

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