Toyota Kirloskar Motor, as part of strengthening its presence in India and improving exports, is planning to set up a new manufacturing facility in Maharashtra. Toyota will be setting up this facility at the Bidkin Industrial Area in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly known as Aurangabad. One of the first products to roll out from the new facility is expected to be the new Toyota Land Cruiser FJ. The launch timeline of the SUV has also been revealed recently, and it is expected to launch in 2029.
The manufacturing facility that Toyota is currently working on is said to become operational by the first half of 2029, and that aligns with the launch of the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ too. It is possible that Toyota might unveil the SUV towards the end of 2028 or early 2029, while official production and sales are expected to begin only after the plant inauguration.
The upcoming facility will have an initial production capacity of 100,000 vehicles per year and will employ approximately 2,800 workers. This would become the third production facility for Toyota Kirloskar Motor after the two existing plants located in Bidadi.
The all-new Land Cruiser FJ is a rugged-looking compact SUV from Toyota. It is actually based on Toyota’s IMV ladder-frame platform, which also underpins the Toyota Fortuner, Toyota Innova Crysta, and Toyota Hilux.
If you believe that this is the new-generation Toyota FJ Cruiser that Toyota discontinued years ago, then you are mistaken. It is an all-new SUV, and Toyota is expected to offer the Land Cruiser FJ in two versions. One of them will be road-focused, while the other will be more off-road-oriented.
The Land Cruiser FJ is 4,574 mm long, 1,855 mm wide, and 1,960 mm tall. It offers a wheelbase of 2,580 mm. This means that the SUV is actually slightly shorter than the Toyota Fortuner.
The Land Cruiser FJ will come with round or rectangular LED projector headlamp units, depending on the version. It will also get Toyota lettering on the front grille, short overhangs, chunky black cladding, and silver skid plates.
The SUV’s rugged character is evident at the rear as well. It comes with a spare wheel mounted on the tailgate too. The cabin of the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ is expected to take inspiration from modern Toyota SUVs. It will come with a minimalist yet utilitarian-looking cabin packed with modern features. The design looks a lot like the one seen on the new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
The cabin follows a horizontal layout that gives it an airy feel. There is a large touchscreen infotainment system along with round AC vents and physical buttons on the centre console.
The Toyota Land Cruiser FJ is currently expected to be offered with a 2.7-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine that generates 163 PS and 245 Nm of peak torque. This is a proper 4×4 SUV and is likely to be offered with both manual and 6-speed automatic transmission options.
There may not be any diesel engine on offer, although the 2.4-litre diesel engine would have made sense for the Indian market. However, Toyota is said to be working on a strong-hybrid version. A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of the same SUV is also being considered.
If you are planning to buy the Land Cruiser FJ in India, it should be noted that while the SUV may look affordable, it probably won’t be. It is smaller than the Fortuner, but the prices are expected to overlap with the base variants of the Fortuner. In fact, in markets like Thailand, where both the Fortuner and Land Cruiser FJ are on sale, the latter is actually more expensive than the former.
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