Take a Guess?

When do you think this photo was taken?


  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
I'm gonna start a new weekly, "Take A Guess" series with a set of official Toyota and Lexus design photos at 2 sets per week. It will take time, but I think it might be interesting. @Gecko, Mike, and @krew, let me know you think. (Lovely new format BTW)

Starting with, the descendant of the "foundation nameplate" of Toyota USA (think FJ40 success in '60s😉):
SOOOOO...when do you any of you think this photo was taken? (Think back to my little TL;DR rants and history lessons, but don't cheat! lol)
4e1057b467d7178fc8587126ed0efa3ea064ebba0ce26df037262d8f299b823f.png32c64bfeae9742fae86b3bf51c96f37b6bf0d76701f9367d4a63be1b851845fb.png

This was from 200-Series Development Program
 
Last edited:

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
Uh oh, one mistake I made was to provide a description of the photo in question. The posting has been updated, to clear up any confusion. I will close the poll later this week and post a Lexus "Take A Gander" in the Lounge thread. "Take A Gander" and "Take A Guess" may run parallel or interchangeably.

I voted 2004!

😁 I will reveal the correct answer after enough votes have been made and then ask everyone why they chose what they did.

Great idea @Carmaker1 ... I voted 2008. Taillight was a big clue for me.
Thanks, I think this might be great idea, that I can actually follow through with. I will use this to unearth a photo treasure trove of Lexus, Toyota, and Japanese products during their development.
 
Last edited:
  • Love
Reactions: RAL

RAL

Moderator
Messages
1,213
Reactions
1,745
Upon further reflection ... the question is when this photo was taken ... so if I could, I would change my vote to 2006. ;)
 

mmcartalk

Expert
Messages
4,155
Reactions
2,675
Before we vote, Carmaker1 (and this is very important)......at the time these shots were taken, were they of new vehicles or used ones? A used vehicle could (obviously) have been photographed at any time....not the case with a brand-new one.
 

Joaquin Ruhi

Moderator
Messages
1,529
Reactions
2,434
I voted 2004 as well. Per Carmaker1's request, I'll explain my rationale after all the votes are tallied and the correct year is revealed.
 

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
I will be closing the poll and open a Lexus one later today. Then start another Toyota poll after I give the answer.

Please note that the vehicle on display, is not in metal. It's not even driveable. Depending on the result of this poll, I might change my descriptions the next time around if there has been confusion.

I think I'll have months of items, based on what I have.
 

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
Upon further reflection ... the question is when this photo was taken ... so if I could, I would change my vote to 2006. ;)

I think I may know why you thought 2008 initially, but that's my fault for not being a bit more descriptive.
 
Last edited:

Will1991

Moderator
Messages
1,572
Reactions
3,205
Voted 2006 but without any clue since LC200 isn't big seller around here... Hopefully next one will be more Euro-friendly :p
 

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
The poll is closed (please help close it Admins, tks)

Alright, now that I've closed the polls and also voted myself, the answer is....2004

3300
This 2004 photo is of the winning concept design proposal in 1:1 full-scale clay (model), for the 200-Series development program. It's not a real vehicle, but a life-size mockup made of clay and painted/coated in dinoc film. Notice how there are no windows? Because there is no interior, it's just a block of clay, smoothed out over a few months.

In January of 2002, after careful planning as early as 2001 and studying of the 100-series market performance/competition, during the turn of millennium, Toyota teams began development of the 200-Series Land Cruiser.

By early 2004, the internal design competition concluded in this final choice. Later in 2004, the design was fully cubed after significant wind tunnel testing by Toyota design engineers and achieved Level: Design Freeze. This point is where the vehicle design in development for all intents and purposes is the production model, that you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. Difference is, most of these lifesize mockups are in clay or fiberglass.

2004 -- 1:1 Scale Design Freeze Mockup of Final Design 200-Series Land Cruiser
33013302

Yes 2004, not 2006 (no shade LOL). Those who guessed 2002, were a bit ahead of themselves, but still had the right idea, since development began in 2002.

I'm curious why so many chose 2006, really interesting.

🕵️‍♂️Actually in 2006, both the Toyota USA mid-level staff and dealer principals (and associates) were first shown the 2008 Land Cruiser behind closed doors at conferences and the first leak of a full prototype (one of the biggest ever), was in Oman in September 2006.
landcruiserspy12.jpg
landcruiserspy13.jpg

landcruiserspy.jpg
landcruiserspy15.jpg


When you have something testing at that stage, usually there's at least 1 1/2 years behind that design being final. All the final components were there (shockingly). The amount of time spent to develop the Land Cruiser often dwarfs the majority of the Toyota lineup, Supra and LS not withstanding (as well LFA lol).

The 200-Series was revealed in September of 2007, as production began for JDM launch that November.

autowp.ru_toyota_land_cruiser_200_jp-spec_14.jpg
autowp.ru_toyota_land_cruiser_200_51.jpg
autowp.ru_toyota_land_cruiser_200_gxl_au-spec_2.jpg


For anyone that chose 2008 as their final choice, I can only imagine there might have been confusion on my vagueness of the photo origins. Interestingly, the taillights on that concept proposal, ended up on he LX 570 in some form and/or were revisited in 2010 at Toyota Studios, when designing the first set of 200-Series updates for 2012.

autowp.ru_lexus_lx570_55.jpg
 
Last edited:

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
BTW, so everyone, please let me know why each of you chose your choices. Thank you.
 
Last edited:

Joaquin Ruhi

Moderator
Messages
1,529
Reactions
2,434
I voted 2004 as well. Per Carmaker1's request, I'll explain my rationale after all the votes are tallied and the correct year is revealed.

Good choice, would like to know what clued you in towards that?

I could tell a mile away that the photos were of the final approved 1:1 scale clay model for Land Cruiser 200. As a teenager, I harbored dreams of becoming a car designer. As such, I subscribed to the bilingual English/Japanese Car Styling and to its Style Auto European inspiration (until I could no longer afford it), as well as the occasional issue of Auto & Design. Their articles are chock-full of those clay models leading up to the final designs.

Knowing that LC200 went on sale in late 2007, I worked backwards to the typical roughly 3-4 year time lapse between design freeze and start of production and you come to 2004.
 

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
I could tell a mile away that the photos were of the final approved 1:1 scale clay model for Land Cruiser 200. As a teenager, I harbored dreams of becoming a car designer. As such, I subscribed to the bilingual English/Japanese Car Styling and to its Style Auto European inspiration (until I could no longer afford it), as well as the occasional issue of Auto & Design. Their articles are chock-full of those clay models leading up to the final designs.

Knowing that LC200 went on sale in late 2007, I worked backwards to the typical roughly 3-4 year time lapse between design freeze and start of production and you come to 2004.

Interesting history. Ironically in a way, same here. I studied Mechanical Engineering at NYIT, but wanted to be car designer.

My parents insisted on a "STEM" degree, worried I wouldn't earn well as they do as medical professionals.

I fell for it, because some of our Jaguar designers earn low 6 figures in POUNDS STERLING and rivaled my own income, even in my latter days as an MBA.🤯

At JLR, I specialized in an area of design engineering, that involved aerodynamics and the aspect of "cubing", which is basically bringing a designer's proposal to reality.

My inability to be pragmatic and often butting heads on some aspects of honoring a budget, made me take a hard look if I wanted to see my work play out to poor sales/public reception. Anyway, I digress.

As for the 200, that's the right way to do it. 2006 was pretty much prototype testing, so that counts it out.

This is the first time I did this, so I understand the pattern of how Toyota works hasn't caught on to most of us.

I am partly doing this, to clear up mysteries on how Toyota works and make sure all of us on here know what to expect and even predict what this company does and when they might do it.
 

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
I could tell a mile away that the photos were of the final approved 1:1 scale clay model for Land Cruiser 200. As a teenager, I harbored dreams of becoming a car designer. As such, I subscribed to the bilingual English/Japanese Car Styling and to its Style Auto European inspiration (until I could no longer afford it), as well as the occasional issue of Auto & Design. Their articles are chock-full of those clay models leading up to the final designs.

Knowing that LC200 went on sale in late 2007, I worked backwards to the typical roughly 3-4 year time lapse between design freeze and start of production and you come to 2004.

BTW, are you able to close the poll for me? Sorry, as I wasn't aware of how to correct it.
 

Joaquin Ruhi

Moderator
Messages
1,529
Reactions
2,434
My parents insisted on a "STEM" degree, worried I wouldn't earn well as they do as medical professionals.

I fell for it, because some of our Jaguar designers earn low 6 figures in POUNDS STERLING and rivaled my own income, even in my latter days as an MBA.🤯
That was one of the things that steered me away from seeking an industrial design degree. Not sure how things are now, but back in the mid-1970s, it was a 5-year program at Los Angeles' Art Center College of Design only to lead to a starting salary that was laughably low, plus the recession going on then brought on layoffs and hiring freezes. If only I'd persevered and known how much better things would get later on...

BTW, are you able to close the poll for me? Sorry, as I wasn't aware of how to correct it.
It seems that the site is set up with a default option for week-long polls. (This one will automatically close on Tuesday 18 June). I couldn't find any override option to let it close sooner. Sorry. 😒
 

ssun30

Expert
Messages
3,326
Reactions
7,418
So if development of the LC200 started in 2002, it means the development cycle is only five years. That sounds very fast for something designed for a 25-year service life. One would think Land Cruisers are among the most engineering- and testing-intensive projects at TMC, yet they did it in less time than most recent Lexus projects. Maybe it's just the nature of BoF being really simple to engineer?
 

Carmaker1

Admirer
Messages
817
Reactions
2,485
So if development of the LC200 started in 2002, it means the development cycle is only five years. That sounds very fast for something designed for a 25-year service life. One would think Land Cruisers are among the most engineering- and testing-intensive projects at TMC, yet they did it in less time than most recent Lexus projects. Maybe it's just the nature of BoF being really simple to engineer?

I think some aspects of planning started in 2001, but development began at the beginning of 2002, with launch at the end of 2007. That's almost 6 years, especially in the case the LX version was not even available until January 2008. The LC 100 was massively delayed, compared to the 200, but I'll try to address that more after a future poll. The 80-Series got off ground in 1984, so I think Toyota's manpower and gifted large team make up the difference.