The Japanese automaker is struggling to recapture the lead in the North American region as General Motors (again) proves a much tougher nut to track than anticipated initially. And their way of accomplishing the feat is simple – a tidal wave of novelties.
Since the beginning of 2023, we have seen a lot of new model introductions or promises of alluring vehicles from the Japanese carmaker. Stuff like the 2023 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid, the entire 2024 Corolla Nightshade family, or the 2023 Corolla Cross Hybrid sure warrant a mention or two.
Then there are also the rising stars – like the trio of 2024 GR special editions for the Supra (45th anniversary), Corolla (Circuit Edition), and GR86 (Trueno) or the 2024 Grand Highlander family-oriented three-row crossover SUV. And let us not forget about the superstars – such as the 2024 Tacoma mid-size pickup truck or the 2024 Land Cruiser returning to the United States.
Naturally, that doesn't mean Toyota is done. Instead, (normal) folks are waiting for the real world to be populated with the refreshed RAV4, an all-new Camry sedan, a fresh iteration of the 4Runner, and stuff like that. Plus, not to mention how the imaginative realm of digital car content creators also wants to chip in with their unique ideas.
For example, Dimas Ramadhan, the virtual automotive artist behind the Digimods DESIGN channel on YouTube, has recently taken up the task of revealing a (much) larger 2024 Land Cruiser than anyone imagined. It's not only ready to duke it out with the automotive industry's behemoths but also adept at hauling and towing all the biggest stuff out there. After all, it's now a heavy-duty pickup truck! Wait, what?
Yeah, seriously, the pixel master has remembered it liked to steal the DNA of the Ford F-Series Super Duty – more precisely, the F-450 dually version – and splash out their imagined dreams of super HD trucks. The CGI expert previously envisioned stuff like the 'all-new' Mitsubishi Triton HD and Toyota Tacoma HD. He also took a swing at the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser pickup truck with 'normal' full-size looks, so this was obviously the only way forward – at least across imagination land.
Well, as it turns out, it's not such a bad-looking HD truck. The only two impediments against such a model wouldn't be the platform – as the 2024 Land Cruiser shares its TNGA-F underpinnings with the bigger J300 Land Cruiser, Toyota Sequoia, Lexus LX, plus the N400 Toyota Tacoma and XK70 Tundra. Instead, the existence of the larger Tundra and the big competition from the Detroit Three's HD offerings mostly negate the idea in the real world.
But this is just an alternative universe, so here we are allowed to dream of a hypothetical Toyota Land Cruiser HD – and even perhaps give it a (supercharged) V8 engine instead of Tundra's 437-hp i-Force Max hybrid powertrain. Also alternatively, would you consider this with a fully electric powertrain or even a hydrogen setup?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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