Want a new Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series? Unless you already have an order in, you’d best be patient.
Toyota Australia has confirmed its order books are still shut for the LC70, as it works to clear a massive backlog. It’s expecting to receive around 12,000 cars in 2024, two thirds of which are likely to be the in-demand V8.
In a bid to cut wait times, dealers are reaching out to anyone with their name down for a V8 and offering them the more readily available 2.8-litre four-cylinder model introduced as part of an update this year.
“We’re working now through our order bank with our dealer network. We’ve waited until we’ve physically got a car, so each dealer will have a car – and when their car arrives they’ll then work through their order bank to see who’s willing to move over to the four-cylinder,” Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley told CarExpert.
“It’s completely up to the customer. We’ll prioritise those people first – they may elect to stay with the eight cylinder, and that’s fine. But they’ll just continue to be in the queue.”
Toyota first announced a pause on orders for the V8 70 Series in July 2022.
Mr Hanley said once all V8 order holders had been given the chance to switch over to the new, four-cylinder model, there’s a chance anyone who’s not in the queue already to order the new 2.8-litre LC70.
Approved by executives in 2019, the four-pot LC70 automatic comes on the back of “strong demand” from customers “because it makes the vehicle so much easier to handle for conditions such as towing trailers through sandy deserts”.
As for the future of the V8? Priority number one is fulfilling existing orders, according to Mr Hanley.
Beyond that though, he says Toyota Australia has no “end date” for the 4.5-litre turbo-diesel and five-speed manual combination that’s served since 2007.
