2024 Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series to join the United Nations

When an international aid organisation like the United Nations or Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) needs Toyota vehicles to support their cause, they don't just pop down to the local dealer and place an order, they call Toyota Gibraltar Stockholdings.

The specialist outfitter and distributor (known as TGS), located in Gibraltar, on the western end of the Mediterranean, is the brand's global supplier for customised Toyota vehicles which operate in some of the most remote and dangerous locations in the world.

The location allows vehicles to be transported to mainland Europe overnight, shipped to the Middle East in under two weeks, or to Central America in less than three.

At the 2023 AidEx Aid & Humanitarian Conference in Geneva last week, the distributor announced that the new 2.8-litre Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series would join their line-up of Toyota vehicles available for fleet purchase, initially in 76-Series wagon guise.

The updated four-cylinder LandCruiser wagon was revealed by TGS CEO Fred Burgod along with executives from Toyota Group business subsidiary, Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

In a press release, TGS noted of the updated GDJ70 Series that, "the LandCruiser legendary robustness and reliability is set to live on with this new model, which brings additional significant benefits such as improved fuel efficiency and safety features, contributing to lower carbon footprint of the aid and humanitarian organisations, up to 30 per cent, and better road safety in the field."

The UN-specification GDJ76 features a more spartan interior than Australian-specification 70-Series utes, with the 6.7-inch touch-screen system replaced with a storage shelf and panel for specific customer radio fitment.

Unlike the ute, which is now on sale in Australia, the updated LandCruiser 76-Series wagon is exclusively available through TGS for its fleet customers.

As a supporter of Toyota vehicles that have to work in remote locations, TGS still supply agencies with 70-Series LandCruisers fitted with the old 1HZ non-turbocharged 4.2-litre six-cylinder diesel as it doesn't require modern or specific diagnostic tools to keep it running if something were to go wrong.

The vehicles are kept simple (you can only buy white ones) and often fitted with long-range fuel tanks, roof racks, snorkels and other off-road equipment.

Currently, aid agencies can choose from LandCruiser 70 (in single-cab, dual-cab, wagon and 'Troopcarrier' body styles), LandCruiser 300 Series, LandCruiser Prado, HiLux double-cab, HiAce, Corolla and RAV4 Hybrid models.

The workshop at TGS also modifies vehicles to customer requirements and even offers a custom vaccine-transport and administration pod that can be fitted to a 70-Series cab-chassis platform.

This was also displayed at the recent AidEx event with TGS noting "our Pharma-Certified Land Cruiser pod conversion that highlighted the importance of transporting vaccines and medicines to remote locations, allowing agencies to administer life-saving vaccines before arriving at the nearest hospital."