The next-generation Toyota Land Cruiser is set to go
on sale in 2021 and according to a new report, will ditch the V8 engines it’s
currently available with. Buyers looking to pick up a current Land Cruiser can opt to have the
SUV fitted with a 4.5-liter turbo-diesel and a 4.6-liter V8 petrol, depending
on the market. However, Car Advice reports that these two engines will be
phased out due to ever-tightening emissions standards around the world.
For what it’s worth, Toyota is refusing to comment
on the reports of the V8 Land Cruiser going the way of the dodo but the
company’s head of product planning and development in Australia, Bernard Nadal,
did recently state that most brands are “shifting down from V8s” and indicated that
Toyota could do the same.
The current train of thought is that when the
new-age Land Cruiser arrives, it will be offered with both V6 turbo-diesel and
V6 turbo petrol engines. The Japanese car manufacturer will then draw on its
decades of experience with hybrid technologies by selling the big off-roader
with at least one V6 hybrid powertrain.
Toyota insists that despite downsizing the engines
in the Land Cruiser family, the vehicle will remain as capable as ever.
