Toyota’s new Land Cruiser may be even more versatile than we initially realized.
The Japanese auto giant and its Calty Design Research studio are bringing an open-top truck based on the popular SUV to this year’s SEMA show. The Calty Land Cruiser ROX may just be a concept, but it’s a tantalizing peek at how cool a pickup based on the current-generation model would be.
Americans may think of the Land Cruiser as an SUV but there have several truck versions dating back to its debut in 1951. The first version of the vehicle—which was Toyota’s equivalent of the Willys MB, better known as the original Jeep—was adapted from the company’s light truck and was even available as a pickup. A lot has changed since then, but the nameplate has graced a number of trucks in various regions in the decades since, including the beloved FJ40 and Australia’s current Land Cruiser 70.
The automaker’s new concept has no relation to that retro-styled bruiser, though. The Calty Land Cruiser ROX is very clearly based on the current J250 which debuted in 2021 and launched in the U.S. last year. Calty has taken the gloriously boxy behemoth and removed everything above the doorline from the C-Pillar backward, including the D-pillar, giving the vehicle a completely roofless open-air design. Where that section of the vehicle used to be there is now a rugged-looking roll bar, to retain structural integrity, as well as a rather spacious bed and a removable soft top in case the weather makes a turn for the worst.
Those changes alone make the concept a beauty, but it’s also been equipped with plenty of off-road gear. Atop the windshield, the vehicle’s only piece of glass, you’ll find an ultra-bright LED lightbar and there’s also a new bumper, protruding fender flares, and a set of monstrous all-terrain tires.
Toyota/YouTube
Now for the sad part: the Calty Land Cruiser ROX is very much just a show car at this point. A video discussing the concept makes clear that it is a one-off build. Still, the Tacoma and Tundra have shown Toyota that Americans love trucks, so if the company ever needs to give the Land Cruiser lineup some juice—though it has sold briskly since its reintroduction—why not introduce a truck variant?
