Deliveries have begun for the 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser Utility Commercial; a two-seat van version of its ultra-tough SUV.
Removal of the rear seats frees up extra load space, which totals 1574 litres in the smaller, short-wheelbase version, with a load capacity of up to 593kg.
The long-wheelbase car, which in passenger form would be a seven-seater, can carry up to 756kg behind the front seats, with a load area of 2216 litres. Both cars get a non-slip load bay floor and a metal bulkhead separating the passenger and cargo areas.
Rather than replacing the windows with sheet metal, they’re instead covered with a body-coloured film. The long-wheelbase version maintains the five-door body style of the passenger version, rather than deleting them altogether, but the blocked windows are not openable.
Prices start at £27,546 for the short-wheelbase version and £28,508 for the longer model, making the short-wheelbase version £2220 more expensive than the entry-level Ford Transit, and the long-wheelbase version is £1582 more than the extended, L3 version of the Transit. Prices are not including VAT, given that it’s a commercial vehicle.
Unlike the passenger-carrying Land Cruiser, the Utility Commercial only gets a side-hinged tailgate, rather than the side-hinged tailgate and glass tailgate of the passenger car. Automatic lights and a tyre pressure monitor come as standard, as well as Trailer Sway Control for the long-wheelbase car. Both versions are capable of towing three tonnes.
Toyota hasn’t entered this market before in the UK, although it has previously offered the car in Ireland. No sales figures have been projected, but small businesses, farmers and rescue services are likely to consider the vehicle. 80 orders have already been taken this year, however, meaning that it's on course to fulfil the UK's 150-unit allotment for 2018. 2019 sales are expected to top this.
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Is this part of the reason why there is still no new Defender?
When you've got a wide choice of pickups and then vehicles like this Land Cruiser, is there a big enough market to justify a new Defender? We Brits may like the Defender but they are not held in such high esteem in other parts of the world. Plus whereas other manufacturers have suitable commercial grade engineers they can use in their pickups etc, what do Land Rover have? Now if only Toyota could give us the rugged ability of a Land Cruiser in a smaller package.
poor maths skills Autocar!
It is not £6K cheaper than the entry-level Landcruiser, that car starts at £33995 inc VAT
Add 20% VAT (£5.5K) and there virtually no difference in price
Great car at a great price
It sure makes the X-Class look stupid.