HDeathstar said:
LC will be a 4 turbo as well. They are going to be smaller and sell at a lower price point. You will be able to get a basic LC that is not a luxury car. I believe they will use the LC badge as their "Off road" vehicle category. Similar to the Bronco brand for ford.
Would think the new LC and 4runner will be working the same market. I don't see the 4runner ever going away though.
What?
Land Cruiser has always been the off road vehicle category. It's just a question of whether it was the Station Wagon, Heavy Duty, or Light Duty (Prado) version, and the US chicken tax traditionally killed any of the non-premium trims of the Station Wagon from coming to the US. You could get the Station wagon and Light Duty (Prado) in Lexus trim, because the Lexus price made up for the chicken tax.
Here, this should help:
Going forward, the Station Wagon version will only be sold as a Lexus LX. The Light Duty (Prado) will be sold in the US as a Land Cruiser and still as a Lexus GX.
The 4Runner may share some architecture with the LC lines, but my understanding is it is much more aligned with the Tacoma than the LCs. It competes with your Broncos, Wranglers, etc.
Quote:
EPA/laws on mpg for a manufacturers' vehicle offerings is causing the reduced engines and smaller SUVs. Thus no fun vehicles anymore.
There is probably some truth to this, but the new 4Runner's turbo 2.4L puts our similar HP and more torque than the current 4.0L V6. I haven't seen power curves, but I can guarantee that it makes torque faster, so it is much more "fun". The i-FORCE max pairs the same engine with an electric motor and a battery pack to generate 326 hp and 465 lb-ft of torque. That's game changing power if you're used to older 4Runners.