2023 Toyota LandCruiser Prado 250 Series imagined

At almost 12 years old, the 150 Series Toyota LandCruiser Prado is well and truly due for renewal.

With Toyota is mere days, if not hours, away from revealing details of the bigger 300 Series LandCruiser, we’ve taken a look at how the Cruiser’s smaller sibling might shape up.

Like the 300 Series before it, there’s still a heap we don’t know about about the next Prado – right down to the name of the next series. For argument’s sake let's call it the 250 Series, but numerically, it could be anything.

Likely to follow the LandCruiser by around 12 months at least, the next Prado looks set to be shown mid-2022. Sales are expected to follow later that same year.

Because Toyota has a fairly strong tradition of keeping the Prado identifiably Prado, expect the 250 Series to wear some of the 150’s design cues – themselves carried over from earlier versions.

Artist Avarvarii has imagined what the next-generation Prado might look like, taking inspiration from what we've already seen of the LandCruiser 300 Series, while keeping a number of unique Prado design cues.

The proudest of those themes is the vertical grille bars, which have featured on every Prado since the 90 Series first arrived in Australia in 1997. While the grille switched to horizontal bars for the 95’s mid-life update, the 120 Series saw the vertical motif return and stay.

In 250 Series guise the vertical grille sits inside a 300 Series-inspired housing, flanked by wider, lower profile headlights. As a member of the LandCruiser family, the Prado is likely to still carry through a family resemblance.

Along the bodysides, the new Prado carries a simpler, but still chunky profile. More dynamic than before, but still carrying solid squared-off guards, the next Prado is very unlikely to alienate its current crop of owners.

More of the family history shows with the upswept rear window glass and solid D-pillar shape. Beneath that, the high-set tail lights matched to the pillar angle also echo long-established Prado design cues.

Overall exterior dimensions also look set to stick close to those of the current model. Set to be no more than 5-10mm different, based on highly-speculative info published by Japanese media, the new Prado won't stray far from those that came before it.

As for what lies under the sleek new surfacing, speculation is rampant. Looking at a variety of sources reveals little is set in stone for the new Prado. At least, not yet.

Expect the Prado to ride atop a variation of the 300 Series ladder frame chassis – part of the Toyota New Global Architecture family, and likely to be known as TNGA-F.

That indicates that Prado won’t lose any of its current off-road prowess, but may pick up some of the latest electronic elements expected on the 300 Series, including upgraded electronic Kinetic Dynamic Suspension (eKDSS) and more advanced Multi-Terrain System off-road drive modes.

Where the Prado will differ from the 300 Series is in its engines. Right now it appears that the LandCruiser’s new six-cylinder diesel engine and V6 petrol hybrid will be reserved for the bigger model. The 250 Series Prado, instead looks set to soldier on with a variation of the current car’s 2.8-litre ‘1KD’ four-cylinder turbo diesel.

With recent tweaks pushing outputs to 150kW and 500Nm, Toyota’s traditionally conservative engine tunes aren’t expected to advance greatly, though there may still be some room for tweaks to performance, economy and refinement.

For the Australian market, at least, the 2.8-litre diesel has been the sole engine option for some time, though overseas markets still have access to both four-cylinder and V6 petrol options too.

In the leap to the new model it looks as though the petrol engine range could be replaced with a hybrid setup. Early suggestions would see an engine of 2.5- to 2.7-litres capacity matched with at least a single electric motor.

Whether this would be paired with an eCVT transmission as in smaller Toyota SUVs, or use fully electric propulsion for one axle, in the way the RAV4 and Kluger systems eFour all-wheel drive does, remains to be seen.

With more details set to filter through as the next Prado progresses through development, there’s still plenty to unpack before the new Prado arrives. In the meantime, hit the comments and let us know what you’d like to see in the next-generation LandCruiser Prado.