Toyota’s New Land Cruiser Is a Smash Hit With Buyers, Despite Some Critics’ Jabs

Following my extended testing of the new Toyota Land Cruiser, I wrote a virtual love letter of a review about this great new vehicle. My review came from having spent time with the Land Cruiser in a variety of driving scenarios, including some off-pavement time. I wrote it in the context of a person who has owned a personally purchased Toyota SUV of one type or another in his garage for the past two decades and who recently had the pleasure to drive a vintage Toyota Prado (a.k.a. global market Land Cruiser) this past year. 

When I saw the reviews that started to come out from other reviewers, I was shocked. Some of what (some of them) were reporting seemed way off base and, honestly, unfair. 

Let’s set opinions aside for a moment and examine one indisputable fact. In eight months of being on the market, Toyota’s new Land Cruiser has outsold the totality of the 200 series Land Cruiser from 2008-2021. That's crazy. People who actually buy Toyota SUVs have made the new Land Cruiser the surprise hit of the decade at accompany whose batting average is the best in the business. 

One outlet I hold in high regard invested in a professionally-produced half-hour video titled "How Toyota Got the Land Cruiser So Wrong," explaining why they like the Lexus version of the Land Cruiser better. Well, duh. That is sort of the point of having a step-up brand. Another reviewer (whose work I love) got a Land Cruiser stuck halfway up an ice-covered hill. That’s the review highlight? One critic’s major gripe was that he doesn’t like where the Land Cruiser now resides in the Toyota SUV family tree (Sequoia is roomier and comfier). These are not dumb people. I’m not trying to imply their reviews are anything less than honest. All I am saying is they panned the vehicle, but buyers are grabbing them up like bonkers. The disconnect is glaring. 

So, how well is the new Land Cruiser really selling? Let’s keep in mind this is a vehicle near the top of the food chain, so its volume is smaller than that of more mainstream, lower-priced models. With 5,399 units sold in December, Land Cruiser.:

1. Is selling better than any prior Land Cruiser Model of the 200 series (2008-2021)
2. Outsold 4-Runner, Highlander, and Sequoia COMBINED in December
3. Outsold the Lexus TX and GX SUVs (possibly some availability reasons there)
4. Outsold all of Toyota’s and Lexus’s combined sports cars (GR86, Supra, and RC) by 7 to 1. 

Perhaps this will help explain the wild success of Toyota’s new Land Cruiser with Toyota SUV shoppers. Here are the annual sales numbers for the Land Cruiser for the five most recent years of the former generation compared to the new one in part of 2024:

•                 2017 – 3,100
•                 2018 – 3,235
•                 2019 – 3,536
•                 2020 – 3,146
•                 2021 – 3,711
•                 2024  - 29,113 (Just 8 months on the market) 

Summary - In just three quarters of one year, Toyota’s new Land Cruiser outsold the entire previous five-year run of the prior generation. The new redesign has increased sales by 10X.

We asked Toyota for a comment on the status of the new Land Cruiser launch and were told,

“We are super proud of the 2024 Land Cruiser coming back to market. Our customers have been incredibly positive about the platform and the go-anywhere nature that the Land Cruiser nameplate has come to stand for.”

Having closely looked over some of the negative reviews of the Land Cruiser, what strikes me is how often the reviewer tells the reader or listener their personal feelings about the Land Cruiser in the context of a bygone era. This is a good reminder that one philosophy of vehicle reviews is to step back from one’s personal view on a given product and try to review it from the perspective not of yesterday’s owners but instead try to imagine what today’s shoppers will think of the product and offer insights on how they might like or dislike the vehicle. 

If you are shopping for a Toyota SUV, tell us your thoughts on the new Land Cruiser. 

John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.