Toyota Land Cruiser: 10 million and beyond

“A car that enables people to go where they want, when they want, and to return safe and sound.”

Toyota Motor Corporation has announced that its legendary Toyota Land Cruiser has surpassed sales of 10 million units globally, after being on sale for 68 continuous years. The Land Cruiser is Toyota’s longest selling model and is sold in approximately 170 countries and regions worldwide. 

Originally debuted in 1951 as the Toyota ‘Jeep BJ’, it was introduced as a mobility vehicle for Japan’s National Police Reserve and presented as a basic model designed to tackle difficult terrain. The Jeep BJ proved its worth when a Toyota test driver, Ichiro Taira, was able to drive to the Number 6 checkpoint on Mount Fuji, higher than any land vehicle had ever reached before.

In 1955, the Jeep BJ was renamed “Land Cruiser,” and the legend was born.

Since then, Toyota has consistently developed versions that cater to customer needs, without sacrificing the reliability, durability, and drivability on poor roads that served as the foundation of development concepts on which the Land Cruiser is based[1]. 

Over the last five decades, Toyota has continuously expanded its export destinations, reaching across Central and South America, the Middle East, and South-East Asia.

Our own journey with Toyota Motor Coproration began in 1945, when our founder, Abdul Latif Jameel, began his quest to meet the expanding need for consumer choice in personal transportation and opened his first automotive outlet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with an initial order of four Toyota BJ all-terrain vehicles.

Within ten years, his company was appointed as the official Toyota distributor and today, over sixty years later, our continuing relationship of mutual respect with Toyota Motor Corporation has enabled us to become one of the World’s leading independent Toyota distributors and a global business.