Wait for new Toyota Land Cruiser stretches to 4 years in Japan

TOKYO -- The Toyota Land Cruiser is big in Japan. In fact, demand for the do-all SUV is so big, Toyota Motor Corp. just notified customers that the wait for delivery has stretched to four years.

That is up from an already jaw-dropping two-year wait back in September.

On everyone's wish list is the redesigned new-generation Land Cruiser 300 Series introduced last August. It rides on a new GA-F platform that also underpins the Lexus LX full-sized SUV.

The long lead time applies only to orders made in the home market, Toyota said.

And even though the Land Cruiser and LX are made in the same factory, the Yoshiwara assembly plant operated by Toyota affiliate Toyota Auto Body, the wait won't apply to the LX, Toyota said. Americans will not be affected because Toyota has discontinued the Land Cruiser in the U.S.

The delay results from Toyota's global allotment strategy for the new Land Cruiser -- Japan is allotted only a fraction of global output, so when demand is high, there is a crunch.

The bulk of Land Cruiser output heads to the Middle East, which accounted for about two-thirds of global sales for the outgoing 200 Series. Japan only comprised 10 percent of worldwide volume.

In 2021, Toyota sold 144,313 units of the Land Cruiser 200 and 300, globally.

The Lexus LX, by contrast, booked only 17,306 units.

Toyota has been suspending output in Japan because of the ongoing semiconductor shortage and because of renewed outbreaks of COVID-19. The Yoshiwara plant was down Friday, for instance.

But Toyota spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said the four-year standby for the iconic Land Cruiser is unrelated to those short-term external factors.

While not directly saying Toyota prioritizes Middle East deliveries, the company seems unwilling to budge much on the quota allocated to the domestic market, regardless of the backlog.

SUV demand is hot in Japan, following the global trend toward utility vehicles and a boom in outdoor recreation during the pandemic. Japan Land Cruiser sales surged 28 percent in 2021, from the year before. "There is high global demand," Hashimoto said, "and we are trying to deliver vehicles in the most appropriate number to the most appropriate region."

The Land Cruiser's new architecture helps shed 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of body weight and is 20 percent more rigid. Under the hood, it drops the long-running V-8 powerplants for two V-6 options -- a 3.5-liter V-6 twin-turbo gasoline engine and a 3.3-liter V-6 twin-turbo diesel.

Japanese pricing for the Land Cruiser starts at 5.1 million yen ($46,500) and tops out at 8.0 million yen ($72,940) for the GR Sport diesel, including consumption tax.

Developed in Japan in 1951 as a localized answer to the Willys Jeep -- the Land Cruiser is Toyota's longest-running model line and linked to its very first days in the U.S.

Sales have ebbed and flowed in the intervening decades in the U.S. as other rugged overlanders have proliferated. The $86,880 starting price (including shipping) was higher than that of many competitors, and the Land Cruiser was even outsold by its premium Lexus LX sibling.