Jonny Lieberman from Motor Trend is claiming that Toyota will no longer sell the Land Cruiser in the USA after 2022, preferring to focus on the Lexus LX:
Why? Well, at $86,000 [the Land Cruiser is] expensive and hard to sell. Especially because Toyota has spent ZERO DOLLARS marketing their best product for several decades straight. 3,000 or so people a year buying a hand built, over-engineered, off road luxury masterpiece apparently ain’t enough.
And that’s not even the real reason. The Lexus LX570 is essentially the same vehicle and costs more (i.e. it is more profitable). Why not sell 7,000 LX570s a year instead of 4,000?
Toyota has issued a statement saying that no decision has been made regarding the Land Cruiser, but this would be a shocking turn of events considering the heritage of the nameplate. The reasoning does fit, especially with what Lieberman has to say about Lexus:
Dirty secret — Lexus hasn’t made a profit in about 2 years. Too many NXs being sold with cash on the [hood], not nearly enough big ticket products like GS, LS, LC, and LX getting bought. So yes, there will be a next-gen, 2023 LX570 sold in America, just not it’s Toyota sibling.
(Photo from Car Advice Australia)
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