New Toyota LandCruiser price shock

The new 2022 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series will be lighter, safer, higher-tech, more powerful, more capable and available in hard-core GR Sport guise, but it will also be significantly more expensive than the 200 Series it replaces.

While some recent new Toyota models like the Yaris are up to 30 per cent pricier than before, that won’t be the case with the new-generation LandCruiser, full Australian pricing and specs for which will be announced in August ahead of first deliveries late this year.

However, our sources say LandCruiser 300 Series prices will increase by about 10 per cent compared to the outgoing 200 Series, or between $6000 and $8000 across the range.

This should equate to a starting price of just under $90,000 for entry-level models and a top-end price of around $140,000, given that LC200 pricing starts at $80,996 for the GX and maxes out at $131,896 for the Horizon SE flagship.

In between, the new GR Sport variant is likely to slot into the middle of the model range with a price tag of around $100,000.

In Australia, the 2022 Toyota LandCruiser will be powered exclusively by a muscular new 227kW/700Nm 3.3-litre twin-turbo diesel V6 hooked up to a new 10-speed automatic transmission with high and low ratios for on and off-road duty.

It’s not yet clear whether we’ll see seven- or eight-seat versions in Australia – or both – but all models will be handsomely equipped. Safety systems and comfort levels have been significantly enhanced without diluting the LandCruiser’s lauded off-road capability, claims Toyota.

Toyota Australia won’t comment on local LandCruiser pricing, specs or model grades for another two months, by which stage stocks of the few remaining 200 Series GXLs are expected to have been exhausted.

Our source indicates the new 300 Series is scheduled to roll into dealerships in late October, although the global microprocessor shortage and COVID-19 restrictions may push its local launch out to November.

That means Toyota’s full-size LandCruiser will likely become unavailable for at least two months, ending its record monthly sales tallies so far this year and probably pushing up the exorbitant prices being paid for used 200 Series vehicles even further.

Despite the higher expected prices, demand for the new LandCruiser is already ramping up and some of Toyota Australia’s nearly 300 dealers are already taking deposits for the 300 Series before official pricing and specs have been confirmed.

But we understand that stocks of the next-gen LandCruiser will be plentiful by the time the 300 Series is launched in Australia later this year, and that unless demand reaches “extraordinary” levels buyers won’t face extended waiting times for delivery.

“There will be a bit of stock there – Toyota won’t be too limited,” said our source.

“They’ve secured a good supply base of stock coming in. It’ll be only be extraordinary demand where they might struggle.”

Either way, monthly sales volumes are unlikely to match the outgoing model’s stratospheric rate of 2500-plus units per month.

Sales of the 13-year-old 200 Series have so far this year increased by more than 60 per cent compared to 2020, when it was the fifth top-selling vehicle overall Down Under – one of the world’s top three LandCruiser markets.

LandCruiser owners are some of the most loyal vehicle buyers out there and LandCruiser enquiry levels at carsales continue to spike as more Aussies holiday at home and demand towing chariots.

So whether one of the most highly anticipated new models of 2021 becomes as popular as the 200 Series was in its twilight could well depend not on pricing or how warmly Aussies embrace V6 power for the 300 Series, but on supply.

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