The Land Cruiser Brand has a big brand value globally. It is the epitome of the Toyota QDR fundamentals and is used and relied upon in many critical areas.

With the FJ cruiser in 2003, the style heritage was explored to create a very successful and capable outdoor activity vehicle for the US and japan domestic markets. When we saw this car, from a European point of view, we were envious! Although probably too big in size to be a big success in Europe, we were inspired to think about what could be the possible vehicle in Europe to have the same impact.

Many years later we had not given up on this idea and now we have had the opportunity to express our thinking through our Land Cruiser Lite study project.

The overall aim of the project is to leverage the Land Cruiser brand value and core DNA to a new set of younger European consumers. These consumers already know Toyota as a cross over manufacturer, but it’s important to reinforce that this reputation comes from authenticity and years of experience of creating reliability and durable Land Cruisers that are used in the toughest conditions.

Our proposal is not a vehicle to be used in the harshest conditions, but one to bring the authentic spirit and identity to a new generation of urban customer.

As the suv/crossover genre becomes the mainstream, diversity within the segment is becoming important. We have identified that from the variety of customer’s needs it is still important to think of different expressions within the small crossover genre.

Yaris cross for example is focussing on a fashionable female customer, one who values advantages of a cross over but still needs a sophisticated automotive expression. Something that is urban and minimal, convenient and active but not in an overtly rugged way.

Our LC Lite projects focusses on a different value customer, one who’s lifestyle is more authentic outdoors, lives in an Urban environment but uses every possibility to spend time in Nature to get out and explore in an ethical and sustainable way. One whose vehicle expresses a more genuine outdoor adventure image, and at the same time looks fun and has a “funky and chunky” dynamism. The interior and CMF will also express these values with authentic layouts, innovative and functional usability and materials allocation that would appeal to this customers personality and create enjoyment through usage.

From this starting point of the customer lifestyle and values, we can create a clear differentiation to the Yaris cross who’s TNGA-B platform our LC lite would share. We feel from this starting point we can re invigorate the land cruiser values to a new customer.