Toyota Makes A Land Cruiser Work Truck Now

So you’re a contractor, hauling your plywood and lumber and tools from jobsite to jobsite, but you’re sick and tired of the vans and pickups. You want something unique, something smaller than a lumbering half-ton but more dirt-capable than a Transit. Well, you’re in luck, because Toyota is now offering an SUV just for you: A commercial-grade Land Cruiser, with two seats and a wide open cargo area cordoned off with a wire grate. 

The new Land Cruiser Commercial, as Toyota is calling it, promises to be just what you’re looking for. It’s got five doors, two seats, and more off-road capability than a low-floor cargo van without the ultra-high ride height (and associated bed height) of a modern pickup truck. For the contractor with job sites located way off in the Adirondacks or the Appalachian mountains, you might not be able to ask for a better work truck fit. There’s only one problem: If you live near either of those places, you can’t get the Land Cruiser Commercial. 

The Land Cruiser Commercial is built in the UK, for the UK. In fact, the islands have a history of upfitting Land Cruiser Prados into commercial vehicles — back in 2018, you could even get a two-door Prado with steel wheels as the first Commercial-grade variant of the truck. I didn’t know about that Land Cruiser until today, and it’s now a strong contender for my all-time dream garage. The new Commercial only comes in a five-door variant, one that shares the standard Cruiser’s 2.8-liter turbodiesel engine, eight-speed transmission, and all-wheel-drive system, but maybe with some pressure on Toyota’s UK branch we can get a version with those back doors welded shut. And, of course, a version for the United States. 

It’s unfortunate that this is only a UK model, because there’s a chance it could really do well here. I won’t guarantee its success — I reserve that for begging Honda for things — but plenty of American contractors are already ditching their rack-outfitted pickups for low-floor enclosed vans. There’s room here for a happy medium, and the Land Cruiser Commercial could fill that void. You might just have to price it a little lower than the $71,900 that the Commercial commands across the pond.