Unravelling Toyota's LandCruiser 70 Series V8 mystery | Opinion

What might be the most predictable bombshell in Australian automotive history was finally dropped this week. Toyota in Australia finally conceded the LandCruiser 70 Series' V8 engine option was being axed and would never return to Aussie roads.

I say predictable because we all knew it was coming, and have done for months. But the question I find myself struggling with now is exactly when Toyota knew?

But first, a little history. Toyota first slammed the order books closed on the LandCruiser's V8 engine around the middle of 2022, citing a backlog of orders it wanted to clear before they could take on new customers.

Fast-forward to October 2023, and Toyota was touting the arrival of an updated 70 Series, this time powered by the HiLux's 2.8-litre turbodiesel. But rather than calling time on the V8 engine then, Toyota's release insisted the V8 would continue to be sold (despite the order books remaining closed) saying: "The venerable 1VD 4.5-litre turbodiesel V8 engine will continue to be sold alongside the 1GD on all variants bar the 76 Series WorkMate, producing 151kW at 3,400rpm and 430Nm of torque from a low 1,200rpm all the way through to 3,200rpm."

So at that stage, the V8 appeared set to make a comeback. But then, in December of that same year, reports on Cars.co.za – citing Toyota sources – claimed a decision had been made to kill off the V8 engine, with some V8-powered versions of the LandCruiser to disappear in August 2024, while some ute versions would vanish 12 months later, in August 2025.

Toyota in Australia, though, insisted the V8 wasn't dead. In fact, that same month – in December 2023 – Toyota told CarsGuide it expected the order books to open in 2025, saying "we're at least 12 months away".

Cut to January 2024 and Toyota doubled-down on its V8 promises, saying "We're still continuing V8 production", but warned that "the future of the V8 will be determined by two major factors that I should articulate. One is the environmental landscape and two is customer demand."

By March that year things were starting to look a little shakier, with an executive telling CarsGuide that "at this stage it's closed, and I can't for the foreseeable future see that opening."

By June, as we now know, the dream was over and the LandCruiser V8 was done. Toyota says it will try to fulfil every V8 order – helped by the fact some 30 per cent of order holders have already swapped to the four-cylinder option – but it can't guarantee it.

But here's where it gets curious. As it turns out, that report from Cars.co.za was pretty much bang on the money, albeit one month off. Toyota has now confirmed production of the V8-powered wagon, troop carrier, Workmate and GX utes will end in September this year, with existing orders expected to be filled by early 2025. And the V8-powered GXL single and dual-cab utes will continue into next year with deliveries continuing until the end of 2025.

We also now know that Toyota has known this was coming since at least March this year, with the company's VP of Sales and Marketing Sean Hanley, telling media the axing of the V8 wasn't in response to incoming New Vehicle Emission Standards, but was instead something it had been planning for some time.

“Before you jump to conclusions that this is completely driven by NVES, regulation played a part, (but) I wish I could tell you we were so agile that we could move so quickly from March of this year. The hardcore reality is we've been planning this for a long long time, so regulation but more importantly community sentiment has played the biggest role," he said.

So, it's likely the decision to put an end date on the LandCruiser 70 Series V8 was made at least as far back as December 2023 – and potentiality much earlier – so why all the cloak and dagger? Why not just say it's done, and the four-cylinder version is its replacement?

That, I'm afraid, might be a mystery that goes down with the V8 ship.