The Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series Hybrid arrives in Australia later than expected as the Japanese brand continues to lag behind Chinese rivals in the large hybrid off-road SUV sector.
“We have the LandCruiser 300 Performance Hybrid coming to market shortly after mid-year,” said John Pappas, vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations for Toyota Australia Daily Sparkz.
Toyota confirmed the hybrid version of the LandCruiser 300 series for our market in September 2025 and said at the time that it would launch here in March 2026 in two model levels.
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The price has yet to be confirmed.
Toyota calls its electrified flagship SUV the Performance Hybrid and uses the same twin-turbocharged 3.4-litre petrol-electric V6 powerplant as the Tundra pickup as well as the Lexus LX700h, which has also been confirmed for Australia.
According to overseas specifications, the hybrid LandCruiser has a total system output of 341kW and 790Nm, a 10-speed automatic transmission, a 1.8kWh nickel-metal hydride (NMH) battery and fuel consumption of 10.9L/100km.
“The reason we’re bringing this car to market is because there’s no compromise on towing and performance,” Mr. Pappas’ predecessor, Sean Hanley, said last year.
“I think that’s important because that’s the demarcation between what we call an ‘efficient’ hybrid and a ‘performance’ hybrid.”
While the LandCruiser 300 Performance Hybrid is slated for a local release, a hybrid version of the Prado remains off the table for now.
“If it becomes available as a powertrain and we believe it can do the job for our customers, we will always consider it for our market needs,” Mr. Pappas said.
“There is nothing to announce about the Prado today, but we will always be open to these things based on their availability and applicability.”
Mr Pappas’ comments show Toyota Australia’s position on the hybrid Prado has remained essentially unchanged since its launch in August 2023.
Mr Hanley said in June 2024 that this “performance hybrid” was “a viable alternative for this vehicle at this point” but that Toyota Australia needed to “ensure it was the right engine for the type of things that people in Australia want to do with this Prado”.
The hybrid Prado, like the diesel variants sold here, is currently produced in Japan, but only in left-hand drive for markets such as the USA.
Mr Hanley said Toyota needed to be able to sell over 10,000 Prado hybrids annually in Australia for the business case to prove successful.
The hybrid version of the Prado – known as the LandCruiser or LandCruiser 250 Series in other markets – uses a 2.4-litre turbo-petrol hybrid powertrain with a total system output of 243kW and 630Nm. An electric motor is housed in the bell housing between the engine and eight-speed automatic transmission, and there is also a 1.87 kWh NMH battery.
Claimed combined cycle fuel consumption is 10.2L/100km.
While Toyota already offers a large SUV with some electrification, the Prado sold here only has a 48V mild-hybrid system, which doesn’t allow it to drive purely on electric power even at low speeds, as is the case with the brand’s numerous hybrid passenger cars and crossover SUVs.
GWM beat Toyota to market the hybrid versions of its Tank 300 and Tank 500 and subsequently launched plug-in hybrid versions.
Most recently, earlier this year, Denza began delivering the B5 and B8 models – Prado and 300 competitors respectively – which are offered exclusively as PHEVs.
MORE: Explore the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series showroom
MORE: Explore the Toyota LandCruiser Prado showroom
