The New Toyota Land Cruiser Has The Exact Same Problem As Every Other Enthusiast SUV

Toyota has just unveiled the newest generation of the Toyota Land Cruiser for 2024. Jeep just launched a refresh of the Wrangler and Ford continues to churn out new versions of the Bronco like its corporate life depended on it. It seems that every few months, a new version of an enthusiast SUV is being conjured up. That's not necessarily a bad thing as giving customers choice should breed more innovation down the line. Except when it doesn't. 

Quick, picture this vehicle: a boxy 4x4 SUV with a name people recognize, huge badge across the grille, available factory lift, tons of options, lights everywhere, skid plates, rock rails and a low-starting MSRP with a near-infinite ceiling. I didn't just describe the Wrangler, Bronco, or new Land Cruiser, I simultaneously described all three of them. Enthusiast SUVs right now all kind of look the same. And that isn't by accident. Toyota didn't unveil the Land Cruiser and say "Oops, we made a Jeep." It was no doubt a calculated design effort to capture what customers want to buy. 

There's no questioning the Wrangler and Bronco's popularity, and it already seems almost certain that the Toyota will follow suit. After all, the Land Cruiser has been a world class name when it comes to off-roaders and enthusiast circles.

To understand why we have boxy off-roaders today, and such widespread affection for them, we have to got back to World War II and the surrounding years. Jeep, of course, became a household name after the Willys MB became a favorite of GIs because of its ability to crawl or hop over just about any terrain. Take a Jeep from 1942, make it a little bit bigger, add a roof, remove the machine gun mounts, and you basically have a vehicle that looks startlingly similar to a Wrangler in the year of our Lord 2024.

The Land Cruiser has a similar origin story as well. It first arrived in the United States in 1958. In Japan, however, it has been around since 1950 when it was first developed as a (you guessed it) military vehicle. It was officially given the Land Cruiser moniker in 1954. Over the years, the Land Cruiser has changed shape a few times, with the prior generation resembling more of a big family SUV than anything you would storm a beach with. But the 2024 model year brings it full circle. 

Only the Bronco doesn't come from a military background, although the Ford press release commemorating the newest iteration does flag the Ford counterpart to the Willys MB in World War II. The Bronco first arrived for the 1966 model year and, although it too went through some changes, the modern Bronco doesn't look wildly different from the 1960s model.

Military and utilitarian backgrounds may describe the boxy shape and prevalence of right angles, but where do the ostentatious grille designs come from? For Jeep, that's easy as the seven slat design has been the same since World War II. The Sun itself will likely die before Jeep changes its grille design. For the Land Cruiser and the Bronco however, the origin story is a little more nebulous. Toyota started putting "TOYOTA" on the grille of Land Cruisers in 1960 with the FJ40, albeit in a significantly smaller font than what we see today. The prior generation used a plain Toyota badge. 

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Ford, however, gets the credit for wacky modern grille design with the first iteration of the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor introduced in 2010. That truck was famous for not only coming equipped with a 6.2-liter V8, but also the huge "FORD" lettering not only on the grille, but actually part of it. Perhaps unintentionally, Ford started the trend of putting the manufacturer's name in giant, obnoxious lettering on the grille. Having a long name like "Chevrolet" didn't stop the brand from redoing the grille for the current generation to follow the trend Ford started. Similarly, the Ford Bronco just reads "BRONCO" so as to remove any doubts about what kind of vehicle it is.  

While figuring out how we got here may involve a circuitous route through the history books, understanding why is a much easier process. As simple as it sounds, it's because enthusiasts have demonstrated they'll buy boxy, rugged SUVs. Jeep has made an entire business model out of it and regularly outsells the Bronco. In fact, the Jeep Wrangler is such a winner when it comes to sheer sales, that when Jeep introduced a plug-in hybrid version, the Wrangler 4xe, it very soon after became the best selling PHEV in the country. Jeep fans would riot if the brand changed anything substantive about the Wrangler. 

Ford's Bronco may not have the same cultural gravitas as the Wrangler, but there's something to be said about acknowledging where the brand came from. When the Bronco was first discontinued in 1996, it looked just like an F-150 and did little to set itself apart. Now, that the Bronco has a distinct boxy look that not only reflects the past, it's thoroughly modern with an EcoBoost powerplant.

Similarly, the Land Cruiser spent a fair amount of time in the wilderness when it just looked like a big Highlander. With the 2024 model, Toyota is going back to what made the Land Cruiser an icon in the first place, albeit with a more Americanized touch.

In evolutionary science, there's a phenomena where many different animals evolve into crabs. Similarly, the Wrangler, Bronco, and Land Cruiser all took different routes to eventually evolve into a boxy SUV. While customers clearly like the result, there's no denying that it can seem a little stale. 

Take the engines for example. In the Jeep's most common two drivetrains, the 2-liter four-banger and the 3.6-liter V6, it produces 270 horsepower and 285 horsepower respectively. The Land Cruiser's 2.4-liter hybrid drivetrain generates 326 horsepower. The Bronco's 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine produces 275 horsepower, while the 2.7-liter EcoBoost makes 315. No matter what car or engine you pick, you're going to end up with somewhere in the ballpark of 300 horsepower. 

Then there's gas mileage. Toyota hasn't released figures for the Land Cruiser yet, but both the Wrangler and the Bronco achieve roughly 20 miles per gallon regardless of engine choice, excluding the 6.4-liter V8 equipped Wrangler. The Jeep's hybrid 4xe drivetrain generates a healthy 375 horsepower, but little actual gas mileage increase at around 21 mpg during testing.

As good as each respective vehicle is, automakers may be taking the lazy route when it comes to innovation. Companies have an incentive to stick to cardboard box-shaped SUVs that it knows people will buy, and there's little motivation to create anything better. Electrification may shake things up somewhat, but here's hoping another car-maker will take a risk on an SUV that isn't shaped like IKEA furniture, and doesn't look like it rolled out of a warzone.