A Toyota executive in Australia claims there’s “no way in the world” the new Land Cruiser 300 will be less capable than the outgoing 200-badged model.

Speaking to CarAdvice, Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia’s vice-president of sales and marketing, promised the new model would not lose any capability even if it did – as rumoured – ditch its V8 heart.

“I understand completely that the Land Cruiser has a massive following, and for our brand it’s deeply important,” Hanleytold the publication.

“The thing with Land Cruiser, because it’s such an important nameplate to our brand, is this: any thought that anything we do with Land Cruiser in the new model would make it less capable than the current one, is a thought that people should dispel straight away. Move away from that,” he added.

“There’s no way in the world we would do anything with the vehicle that would make it less capable,” the executive promised.

In mid-January 2020, a report out of Japan claimed the upcoming Land Cruiser 300 would employ a 3,5-litre V6 petrol hybrid powertrain, repeating rumours the V8 would be axed. Hanley, though, said it was “far too early” for him to talk about specifics of the new model.

Original article from Car