Toyota Australia has paused orders for the LandCruiser 76 Series GXL wagon, with only automatic variants affected.
The rest of the LandCruiser lineup – which spans two other 76 Series wagon grades, four 78 Series Troop Carriers, and seven 79 Series utes – aren’t impacted, with order books remaining open.
According to Toyota, the order pause has been attributed to “strong customer demand and relatively low production levels”.
“We know in the past, particularly through the COVID-19 pandemic and during the global semi-conductor supply shortage, vehicle supply challenges caused a degree of frustration with our customers with wait times for delivery of new vehicles being extended significantly,” said Toyota Australia Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley.
“We never want to be the cause of that frustration again so together with our dealer network, we are committed to carefully managing any supply issues to provide complete transparency for customers when issues outside our control arise.
“We continue to work with our parent company in Japan to optimise production and supply levels of all Toyota vehicles to ensure we can deliver and satisfy Australian customer demands.
“Since we launched the new four-cylinder LandCruiser 70 Series in late 2023, we have seen its appeal grow for Australian customers with strong demand across the entire range.”
It’s the first time Toyota has paused orders for the 70 Series since the four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine joined the lineup, initially launching in auto-only guise before a manual was added late last year.
However, it’s the second time in the past three years that Toyota has closed order books for the 70 Series, with the last such instance occurring in July 2022.
At the time, high demand for the V8-powered model saw wait times as high as four years at some dealers, prompting Toyota to stop taking orders. The subsequent addition of the four-cylinder saw Toyota reopen 70 Series order books almost two years later, but not for the V8.
Instead, the V8 is set to be phased out from September, with not all existing orders set to be fulfilled.
In the same month, Toyota will suspend production of the 70 Series altogether for eight months, with the 4×4 set to receive tweaks to make it compliant with more stringent exhaust emissions regulations, coming into effect locally later this year.
From November 1, 2025, all new vehicles sold in Australia with a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) of more than 3500kg will need to comply with ADR 80/04 regulations, which closely reflect Euro 6 restrictions overseas.
Currently, the LandCruiser’s 2.8-litre four-cylinder and 4.5-litre V8 turbo-diesel engines are only Euro 5 compliant, however the bent-eight will go out of production when the line stops in September, with only the four-pot to remain thereafter.
While Toyota says it will have stock of the LandCruiser 70 Series to keep deliveries going through the production pause, it’s not yet known what changes will be made to the long-serving off-roader to keep it compliant.
The 2.8-litre engine which powers the 70 Series is also under the bonnet of the LandCruiser Prado, the most recent generation of which requires AdBlue to reduce certain exhaust emissions.
Despite this, the Prado is only complied as a Euro 5 vehicle in Australia, even though it’s also fitted with a mild-hybrid system which assists at low speeds.
Toyota does sell a version of the 2.8-litre LandCruiser 70 Series with an AdBlue system in its home market of Japan, which is a likely replacement for the current version of the powertrain.
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