SEMA

Toyota Land Speed Cruiser: 354 km/h for the Big SUV

by Frédérick Boucher-Gaulin
Toyota Land Speed Cruiser
Photo: Toyota

When you look at a Toyota Land Cruiser—a large, burly SUV not sold here, but basically the same as a Lexus GX 460—you probably think that it is very comfortable and supremely capable off road. However, nobody will think that this rolling fortress is fast. The Land Cruiser might have a 381-horsepower V8, it weighs 2600 kg. This means that it probably won't win a drag race anytime soon.

At this year's SEMA Show, Toyota took it upon themselves to create a vehicle capable of hitting 350 km/h. The manufacturer could have taken something a bit more aerodynamic, but they were obviously looking for a challenge.

This is the result of their efforts: the Land Speed Cruiser. The lowered SUV sits on large tires, gets upgrades to its body and is equipped with a V8 fitted with a pair of turbos.

Toyota hasn't pushed the Land Speed Cruiser to its limits yet, but they still managed to hit 257 km/h during tests. The engineering team will continue testing, and they should arrive with more news soon.

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