Your LC300 Australian pricing guide: How much you can expect to pay for the Land Cruiser 300 Series, and why the GR Sport will be the most expensive model ever

International prices have begun to be revealed for the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series, with price jumps expected across the board for the more high-tech successor to the LC200.

But how much more you'll pay remains the pertinent question, and the pricing structure in Japan gives us a pretty good clue as to what to expect.

Short answer? We'd expect to see LC300 prices rise by about $5000 from current levels - a number that our sources in Australia suggest will be about right, too.

According to the online sleuths at Japan's Best Car Web, the local price list for the new LC300 will start at 5.1 million yen ($61,377) for the cheapest GX petrol model, climbing to 5.5 million yen ($66,200) for the AX, and 6.6 million yen ($75,810) for the VX.

But the number that really matters to us is the diesel price list, with the top-spec ZX to sell for 7.6 million yen ($91,437) in diesel guise, and the new GR Sport will list at 8 million yen ($96,250) - making that model the most expensive ever.

Now we know that you can't simply convert international currencies to get a true idea of local costs, given the different fees, taxes and price points attached to cars in this country.

But what you can do is look at the gap between the old model and the new model overseas to get some kind of idea of where the new LC300 will sit in comparison to the LC200.

And surprising absolutely nobody, the new LC300 - which is smarter, safer and far more advanced than the vehicle it replaces - is going to be more expensive than the ageing LC200.

How much more expensive? Again, let's look to Japan.

For this, we'll focus on the top-spec ZX model (the nameplate ZX Sahara has already been trademarked in Australia). In Japan, the petrol-powered ZX is 326,000 yen (around $4000) more expensive than the ZX 200 Series. The gap to the diesels ZX is then another $3600.

In fact, according to Best Car Web, Toyota is keen to shrink the traditional price gap between petrol and diesel engines, with more people expected to embrace the new 3.3-litre twin-turbo-diesel, even in international markets.

Using those numbers, you can expect to see LC300 prices increase by at least $5000 in this market, meaning a Sahara would go from around $124,500 to around $130,000.

Again, using Japan as a guide, the GR Sport trim could push the price ceiling even higher, potentially landing somewhere near $140,000.

Now it must be pointed out that these sorts of pricing guides are more guess work than science, and Toyota in Australia is yet to confirm pricing for the models in our market - and who knows, car companies can be full of surprises.

But one thing is certain - LC300 shoppers will be paying more (as an RRP, that is) for their LandCruiser than ever before.