After almost two decades of sales in Australia, the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser’s V8 turbodiesel is officially dead. While the 70 Series Landy is still going strong, after originally debuting in 1985, the death of the V8 will hit customers hard, especially those who’ve been waiting on orders.
Toyota paused orders on the 1VD-FTV 4.5-liter diesel-burning V8 two years ago, the only eight-cylinder on offer. Existing order holders are expected to get their trucks near the end of 2024, but anyone who was holding out hope for Toyota to reopen the order books will be disappointed.
“Bidding farewell to the V8 marks the end of one chapter and the start of another for the go-anywhere 70 Series,” said Toyota Australia Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations, Sean Hanley to Australian media. “We continue to work closely with our production team to receive the maximum possible V8 allocation so that we can fulfil as many local customer V8 orders as possible.”
Toyota’s decision to axe the V8 was mostly regulatory. Under Australia’s updated New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), the old V8 turbodiesel—which dates back to 2007—fails to meet emissions requirements. However, in addition to changing regulations, Toyota claims that this decision has actually been a long time coming.
“This was not completely driven by NVES regulation, though it played a part. I wish I could tell you we were so agile that we could move so quick from March of this year. But the hardcore reality is we’ve been planning this for a long, long time,” Hanley said, according to Drive.
While the V8 is still the most popular option, many order V8 reservation holders have switched their allocation to other engines following the news. Interestingly, while the V8 dies, the manual transmission lives on. Toyota is moving the V8’s five-speed manual option over the 2.8-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel, to help ease customers’ pain from losing their more desired engine. Its gearing has been tweaked in first, second, and third gears to help with the lack of low-end torque of the four-cylinder diesel compared to the V8.
The Land Cruiser 70 has been on sale for longer than I’ve been alive, so it’s obviously an icon in Australia. And while it’s sticking around for at least a little while longer, seeing the death of its V8 does feel like the end of an era for customers.
Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com