Toyota drops petrol from LandCruiser 200 Series
TOYOTA Australia has trimmed range choice for its most expensive offering, the LandCruiser 200 Series upper-large SUV, deleting the 4.6-litre petrol V8 available in three model grades and leaving the 4.5-litre twin-turbo-diesel V8 as the only engine choice.
According to Toyota Australia, the petrol version was discontinued due to low sales, with the petrol engine representing only about five only per cent of volume over the past couple of years.
The Japanese brand’s local arm says it has no plans to replace the petrol engine. In other markets, the LC200 is offered with the same 270kW/530Nm 5.7-litre V8 found in local examples of the mechanically related Lexus LX570.
The removal of the 227kW/439Nm petrol V8 follows a trend away from petrol powertrains in larger Toyota vehicles, with the Prado and HiLux removing the 4.0-litre V6 from their respective ranges when they were updated in 2017.
Toyota Australia has also increased LC200 pricing across its four-variant line-up, jumping between $2358 and $3618.
The range now opens from $80,190 plus on-road costs for the base-level GX, while the top-spec Sahara now asks $123,590.
The company attributed the price rises to macroeconomic factors as the increase has not been due to any added specification.
“From time to time, Toyota adjusts the pricing of vehicles according to business conditions. This is influenced by a variety of economic and business factors,” Toyota Australia said in a statement.
The economic factors have also resulted in price changes for other models, such as the LandCruiser 70 Series, which has gone up in cost between $1250 and $1450 for the Troopcarrier and 76 Series wagon versions.
Oddly, the 79 Series single and dual-cab pick-ups have retained their sticker prices.
Completing price increases for the LandCruiser range, the Prado large SUV has gone up in price by between $500 and $829, now kicking off from $54,090 for the manual GX, up to $84,590 for the Kakadu.
The RAV4 mid-size SUV, which arrived in all-new guise in May, has also seen small price rises of $350 across the range due in part to the standard fitment of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto announced at the start of the month.
2019 Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series pricing*
| GX (a) | $80,190 |
| GXL (a) | $91,890 |
| VX (a) | $102,590 |
| Sahara (a) | $123,590 |
*Excludes on-road costs
