Australian motorists who want to explore the great outdoors in a new Toyota Land Cruiser have three options to choose from. One is the 70-Series model introduced in 1984. It’s still being built, it’s relatively popular Down Under, and it’s about to receive a series of updates in order to keep going.
New safety regulations are at the root of the looming changes, according to Australian website Motoring. Starting in November 2022, all new cars sold in Australia will need to comply with stricter pole side impact rules, and getting older models to pass is easier said than done. Lexus will notably retire its CT and RC models to avoid having to make expensive modifications. Toyota’s 70-Series is in a different position: Although it’s 37 years old, it’s hugely popular in Australia (about 10,000 units were sold in 2020 and annual sales are on track for a 10% increase in 2021) so the business case for relatively expensive structural changes is an easy one to make.
There are two paths the company can take. First, the safety improvements introduced on the single-cab model in 2016 (including a stronger frame and side curtain airbags) could trickle down to the people-carrying variants. Second, Toyota could increase the model’s gross vehicle mass (GVM) to make it exempt from the new norms. It would be classified as a medium goods vehicle rather than as a light goods vehicle, according to Motoring.
