Photo: kelsonik / Instagram
It's impossible to discuss the automotive heroes of this final month of summer without referring to the Monterey Car Week's superstars, the boxy 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe, or the massive 2025 Cadillac Escalade IQ. However, no matter what we do, we just can't help but return to the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser for more.
This weekend will be about the most important events in California during the Monterey Car Week – The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, and the classic Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. And this is mainly because the vast majority of automakers refrained from unleashing their surprises (like the Mustang GTD) earlier.
Sure, there were occasional exceptions – such as the 'Golden Era' Bugatti Sur Mesure Chiron Super Sport or the Aston Martin DB12 Volante, but they were a minority. On the other hand, Hyundai wanted the spotlight all for itself during the world premiere of the 2024 Santa Fe that took place, of course, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And so did General Motors, which allowed Cadillac to take over New York City's iconic Times Square with the 750-hp Escalade IQ full-size EV SUV.
However, an entire world – and sometimes even the parallel universes of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators still can't get over the introduction of the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, which occurred in Toyota City, Japan, and immediately spread across all major regions like North America, Europe, Japan, or Australia for specific details. Speaking of the United States, the return of the nameplate brought a change of vision – this isn't the follow-up to the J200 series but rather the light-duty version that appeared in 1990 and was dubbed Prado in many places of the world.
Now the J250 Lexus GX 550 and 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser are twinned in TNGA-F format and profiles, but each has its separate target audience. While the GX features a 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 mill packing 349 hp and only dreams of luxurious overlanding adventures, the 2024 Land Cruiser is a little more down to Earth and also much more efficient, given the estimated 27 combined mpg fuel consumption of its 326-hp electrified i-Force Max 2.4-liter turbo inline-four powertrain.
Plus, the 2024 Land Cruiser has two distinct personalities – the base Land Cruiser 1958 trim and the First Edition series sport a classic round-LED headlight fascia, while the regular Land Cruiser grade is squared and inspired chiefly by stuff like the J80 Land Cruiser of the 1990s. Naturally, people will have to choose and live with different perspectives when the model reaches US dealerships in early 2024. But what if folks were enamored with the off-road adventure options of the First Edition and couldn't get their hands on one?
Well, no worries. There are digital solutions to the conundrum. For example, Nikita Chuicko, the virtual artist better known as kelsonik on social media, thinks now is the right CGI time to fuel our aftermarket Land Cruiser dreams towards great overlanding adventures. It's not the first time this pixel master has CGI-reworked the 2024 Land Cruiser, but all past creations focused on making the rugged SUV a veritable mall crawler.
Now he's making amends with the off-road section of fans after presenting us the hypothetical Land Cruiser 'Off-Road Edition' based on the base Land Cruiser 1958 trim level. It comes virtually complete with everything we could possibly dream of – body-colored 'steelie' aftermarket wheels shod in meaty all-terrain tires, a massive suspension lift kit, beefier front and rear bumpers plus side guards, additional LED lights, a winch, a snorkel, and a roof rack with lots of accessories fitted to it.
So, what more could we possibly need aside from the automaker itself giving us access to such accessories in a bid to fight the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler options? Or, even better, hopefully, aftermarket companies are already hard at work researching and developing the best options for the 2024 Land Cruiser. After all, what's a Land Cruiser if you can't take it to the far end of the world?
Sure, there were occasional exceptions – such as the 'Golden Era' Bugatti Sur Mesure Chiron Super Sport or the Aston Martin DB12 Volante, but they were a minority. On the other hand, Hyundai wanted the spotlight all for itself during the world premiere of the 2024 Santa Fe that took place, of course, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And so did General Motors, which allowed Cadillac to take over New York City's iconic Times Square with the 750-hp Escalade IQ full-size EV SUV.
However, an entire world – and sometimes even the parallel universes of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators still can't get over the introduction of the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser, which occurred in Toyota City, Japan, and immediately spread across all major regions like North America, Europe, Japan, or Australia for specific details. Speaking of the United States, the return of the nameplate brought a change of vision – this isn't the follow-up to the J200 series but rather the light-duty version that appeared in 1990 and was dubbed Prado in many places of the world.
Now the J250 Lexus GX 550 and 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser are twinned in TNGA-F format and profiles, but each has its separate target audience. While the GX features a 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 mill packing 349 hp and only dreams of luxurious overlanding adventures, the 2024 Land Cruiser is a little more down to Earth and also much more efficient, given the estimated 27 combined mpg fuel consumption of its 326-hp electrified i-Force Max 2.4-liter turbo inline-four powertrain.
Plus, the 2024 Land Cruiser has two distinct personalities – the base Land Cruiser 1958 trim and the First Edition series sport a classic round-LED headlight fascia, while the regular Land Cruiser grade is squared and inspired chiefly by stuff like the J80 Land Cruiser of the 1990s. Naturally, people will have to choose and live with different perspectives when the model reaches US dealerships in early 2024. But what if folks were enamored with the off-road adventure options of the First Edition and couldn't get their hands on one?
Well, no worries. There are digital solutions to the conundrum. For example, Nikita Chuicko, the virtual artist better known as kelsonik on social media, thinks now is the right CGI time to fuel our aftermarket Land Cruiser dreams towards great overlanding adventures. It's not the first time this pixel master has CGI-reworked the 2024 Land Cruiser, but all past creations focused on making the rugged SUV a veritable mall crawler.
Now he's making amends with the off-road section of fans after presenting us the hypothetical Land Cruiser 'Off-Road Edition' based on the base Land Cruiser 1958 trim level. It comes virtually complete with everything we could possibly dream of – body-colored 'steelie' aftermarket wheels shod in meaty all-terrain tires, a massive suspension lift kit, beefier front and rear bumpers plus side guards, additional LED lights, a winch, a snorkel, and a roof rack with lots of accessories fitted to it.
So, what more could we possibly need aside from the automaker itself giving us access to such accessories in a bid to fight the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler options? Or, even better, hopefully, aftermarket companies are already hard at work researching and developing the best options for the 2024 Land Cruiser. After all, what's a Land Cruiser if you can't take it to the far end of the world?
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