Toyota Land Cruiser falls victim to CO2 cuts

Toyota New Zealand has decided to reduce its allocation request for the largest vehicles bearing the Toyota and Lexus badges – combined with the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series and Lexus LX 500d – because having too many would undermine its emissions reduction plans.

But the company hopes technological upgrades in the car line will keep the much more important but equally emission-intensive models – including the Hilux among them – from feeling the same heat.

The Land Cruiser and LX 500d models are already hard to come by, having to wait 12 months. Additionally, parents in Japan have now suspended accepting additional international orders for those placed, as it has snowed.

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The Lexus LX 500d shares the basics and engines of the Land Cruiser, making it equally unfriendly to Toyota New Zealand’s CO2 targets.

But greater access is set to be counter-productive to Toyota New Zealand’s ambitions to contain the average carbon emissions of its new vehicle fleet to keep up with the Government’s tightened Clean Car regulatory pathway, a senior manager has explained.

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“We’re reducing our allocation requests… we’ve significantly reduced our volumes and that’s in preparation as we lower our mix in CO2,” said general manager of sales Steve Pragnell.

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Toyota’s first dedicated EV, the bZ4X, is coming soon to help Toyota New Zealand reduce its CO2 average.

“We are proactively approaching our mix, based on a downward trend towards our (CO2 average) target.”

Toyota and Lexus have determined to achieve a combined CO2 average of 179 grams per kilometer next year, from the current 183g/km, a target that places increasing reliance on hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully battery cars, and also demands a halt to the causes of high CO2. .

In addition to the LX and RC-F petrol V8 coupes, the Lexus models are electrified and, in one model, fully electric. Toyota next year will introduce a fully electric car, the bZ4X, which is also the basis of another Lexus, the upcoming RZ 450e.

Japan’s No.1 is also the world leader in hybrid technology which now includes all mainstream Toyota models, with the Corolla announced this week as the latest convertible in all forms of saving GR performance.

Damien O’Carroll/Stuff

The Land Cruiser 70 Series is Toyota’s highest-emissions 4×4 car and can be a difficult car for Toyota to maintain in its local lineup.

But hybrids aren’t available in all of Toyota’s vital-volume commercial models, most notably the one-ton Hilux and Hiace vans, and other serious off-roaders; Land Cruiser 70 Series, Prado and Fortuner based on Hilux.

All achieve the same or higher emissions with the Land Cruiser 300 and LX 500d, which ironically switch to a 3.3-liter V6 turbo diesel engine to be more fuel efficient and cleaner than the previous V8 diesel.

But the new engine still produces 268 grams of CO2 per 100km when calculated by the Government’s 3P-WLTP conversion, an amount that Prangnell concludes is quite challenging.

Damien O’Carroll/Stuff

The Hilux is also a high emitter, but Toyota New Zealand won’t be ditching its bestseller any time soon.

Asked if the Land Cruiser 300 and LX 500d paid the price for high emissions, he replied: “Yes. We’re just trying to balance what we can do as we move towards a low-emissions product mix.”

The TNZ website cites the Hilux – which is destined to one day use an electric platform, but without a clear timeframe – as ranging from 227 to 281g/km and Hiace from 227 to 251g/km.

The Land Cruiser 70-Series utility and wagon delivers 318g/km and the Prado delivers 240g/km. The Fortuner produces 231g/km and all of Toyota’s sports models seem over the line.

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The Hilux will go electric one day, but we don’t know when.

Conceivably, those vehicles could also be a firing line, with Prangnell saying the company’s plan is to move “the entire model mix” into CO2 and adding that: “If you look at our lineup right now, we’re currently running at around 33 percent.” hybrid mix and we will reach 42 percent next year.”

However, when asked if the availability of those models might as well be limited or worse, he offered that that doesn’t have to be the case.

“Toyota Motor Company’s development of low-emission powertrains is moving fast,” he said.

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Toyota’s Senior General Manager of Design Simon Humphries on the company’s new line of battery electric vehicles.

“Remember Akio (chairman Akio Toyoda) has stated that Toyota will continue to develop and invest in all powertrains, so we are seeing more mainstream model lines – such as Corolla/RAV4 etc. – available with electric powertrains.”

The greater proliferation of hybrids and plug-in hybrids, plus battery and fuel cell products – a reference to the hydrogen-fueled New Zealand Mirai being piloted in Auckland – “will naturally reduce our overall combined CO2 footprint, allowing us to balance the product portfolio with vehicles with higher emissions.

“We have also seen that when a new generation of our current vehicles comes in, with the new low CO2 internal combustion technology, their CO2 footprint is reduced.

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With the addition of the Corolla Cross SUV to the local Corolla lineup, the iconic nameplate has become a hybrid with its main models.

“So in short we are looking for low-emission alternatives from around the world and we are not leaving the powertrain or the customer behind.”

He accepts that the Land Cruiser 300’s decision may not be welcomed by most rural, mostly lower South Island bases.

“But we have a commitment. We have to do this, otherwise we can’t get there (the CO2 target).

You can imagine the Land Cruiser and Lexus could eventually be a savior. When the latest LX launched globally last year, there was talk of taking the hybrid drivetrain using the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 petrol to other markets.

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The Land Cruiser 300 was supposed to arrive last October, but fell victim to the impact of the coronavirus on component production and supply, especially with regard to semiconductors, so only started showing volume just before the Lexus sister ship landed in March.

The order bank for both spans a year here. In Japan, it’s even worse – whoever there put cash on the Land Cruiser won’t see it until 2024.

That’s why Toyota Japan this week posted advice on its public website saying that, as global demand “grossly exceeds our production capacity”, it has taken the extreme step of suspending all new orders until it can catch up. It doesn’t yet indicate when this might lift.

Toyota has here several times enforced its commitment to a decarbonized transportation sector and plans for a transition to a low-emissions economy, most recently with the announcement of the election of chief executive Neeraj Lala to the steering committee of the Coalition of Climate Leaders.

The company’s goal is to be carbon neutral by 2050.

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