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Four-cylinder LandCruiser 70 Series orders have been paused due to high demand, three years after the V8 – but only for one specific model grade, and they are eventually expected to resume, although not until next year.
Order books for one variant of the four-cylinder Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series four-wheel-drive have been paused due to high demand and "relatively low production levels".
And orders may not resume until the middle of next year, as production of the entire LandCruiser 70 Series range is set to grind to a halt for eight months from September 2025 so it can be upgraded to meet new emissions rules.
The order pause, in effect from July 17, only affects the popular 76 Series GXL automatic wagon.
The rest of the range is still available, with two- to four-month estimated wait times, according to Toyota Australia.
Toyota Australia attributes the pause to "strong customer demand and relatively low production levels," and says it was implemented to "provide complete transparency for customers and enable dealers to deliver existing orders in a timely manner."
Unlike the V8 – which never re-opened its books, as the engine is due to reach the end of the line next month, after three years of fulfilling customers' orders – the latest pause is expected to be lifted once stock improves.
But that may not occur until the middle of next year, due to a production halt for the 70 Series range – first revealed by Drive – so it can prepare for, and meet new Euro 6 emissions rules coming into force at the end of this year.
It is expected to see the workhorse – with a design that's fundamentally 41 years old – gain a requirement for AdBlue diesel exhaust additive, which is needed by many modern diesel vehicles to help reduce tailpipe emissions.
A Toyota spokesperson told Drive earlier this year the company has "ordered additional supply so we can continue to meet demand .... throughout the pause."
However, it is possible that the number of customers in the queue for a GXL automatic wagon variant has now far exceeded the stock Toyota dealers will hold when the production pause begins.
Toyota Australia sales and marketing boss Sean Hanley said in a media statement:
"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.
"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."
The rest of the LandCruiser 70 Series range remains available to order – for now, at least – including the cheaper WorkMate automatic wagon, or the manual GXL wagon.
Toyota said in a media release it "has good supply of all other variants in the LandCruiser 70 Series range with Toyota dealers having some variants in stock for immediate delivery, or are able to deliver new orders within approximately two-four months depending on the variant."
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
