Is the Toyota LandCruiser EV one step closer to reality?
The rumoured electric addition to the Toyota LandCruiser family may have been inadvertently leaked by one executive.
Reports of Toyota adding a LandCruiser EV to the lineup have circulated ever since the LandCruiser Se concept was revealed in October 2023, and now it appears to be coming closer to reality.
Toyota's European director of marketing and product strategy, Andrea Carlucci, posted a photo of a LandCruiser 300 Series with a camouflaged SUV prototype on Facebook, with the latter bearing a resemblance to the aforementioned concept car.
Though it looks similar to the recently revealed Grand Highlander sold in the US (a larger version of the Kluger), the camouflage suggests Toyota is hiding additional details, with the SUV potentially running as a test mule.
Carlucci makes reference to the Tahara factory which has been producing the LandCruiser for more than three decades, though this may have been a nod to the team who developed the 300 Series in the image, rather than the camouflaged prototype.
The most recent reports of an electric LandCruiser were published by Reuters in September last year, claiming insider sources said it would be joined by an EV version of the RAV4, with both to be produced at Toyota’s Kentucky factory in the US.
Looking back to the LandCruiser SE concept from 2023, it was based on a monocoque chassis rather than the body-on-frame underpinnings of the traditional LandCruiser.
Measuring 5150mm long, 1990mm wide, and 1705mm high, with a 3050mm wheelbase, it was 35mm longer, 10mm wider, sat 145mm lower and had 200mm less distance between the axles than the 300 Series.
While some reports from earlier in 2025 suggested the electric LandCruiser would replace the Toyota Highlander (sold in Australia as the Kluger), the latter recently went electric itself, retaining its nameplate but dropping petrol power for motors.
There is a resemblance between the US-market Highlander EV and the LandCruiser SE concept, though no links were made between the two when Toyota revealed the former.
The LandCruiser family has been undergoing something of an expansion of late, with the luxury full-sized 300 Series and workhorse 70 Series joined by the LandCruiser Prado 250 Series (sold in some markets as the LandCruiser), as well as the smaller LandCruiser FJ in south-east Asia.
Only the former trio are sold in Australia, with the latter remaining as a specific market vehicle only.
