Rejoice! The Toyota Land Cruiser is also coming to Europe

You’ve read about the arrival of the new Toyota Land Cruiser, now prepare to be intrigued further with the news that the utilitarian off-roader is also coming to Europe. Yay!

There’s one key difference though: instead of the 2.4-litre four-pot being sold in the US, Europe is getting a 2.8-litre diesel with 201bhp. Wonder if that’ll scupper UK availability?

Pre-orders for First Edition cars - of which around 3,000 are coming to the continent - will be taken in October ahead of deliveries commencing in the first half of 2024. And a 48-volt mild-hybrid version will follow in 2025.

The limited-run launch car will come with styling tweaks that emphasise the car’s off-road abilities, says Toyota, including round headlights and a bi-tone paint finish available in two schemes.

After that it’ll be back to the sterner, square headlights you see on the silver car above.

Inside, Toyota has designed the interior with off-roading in mind, which means easy-to-press buttons and switches for operating stuff when things get bumpy. Good.

There’ll also be the option of a seven-seater version, apparently using the same dimensions (4,920mm long, wheelbase 2,850mm) as the five-seater. That’ll be child-friendly seats in the rear, then.

Still, Toyota claims the move to its TNGA-F platform means combined body-and-frame rigidity is up by 30 per cent, which should lead to better ride and handling.

There’s also a new disconnecting anti-roll bar system so drivers can choose between better drivability off-road or more agreeable dynamics on-road. Electric power steering will help with that too.

Is the Land Cruiser about to invade the handsome-and-useful Venn diagram territory currently held by the Land Rover Defender?