Still, with a legendary name like Land Cruiser, all eyes were on the boxy-looking SUV rather than the curvy but unassuming crossover (or the scooter/trike in the foreground). Though nothing official has been made about the 2 SUVs, there are speculations that these could be electrified variants of the Land Cruiser.
They might not even be called Land Cruiser as Toyota has recently filed the name “Land Hopper” at the Japan Patent Office. The trademark office published the name on 17-August under Class 12 classification which is categorised for vehicles.
Compact Cruiser EV shown
The name was filed for application on 8-August 2023 by Toyota Motor Corporation. There were even some speculations that the name might not even be for either SUVs but perhaps the trike shown at the end of the all-new Land Cruiser Prado’s unveiling.
But there is another possibility that the name might appear on an entirely different model. Filipino automotive publication, Auto Industriya, reported a scoop that Toyota is developing an SUV that would slot between the Corolla Cross and Fortuner in emerging markets.
The supposed ‘Baby Fortuner’ is referred to by the internal code 500D with production planned to start in Thailand between the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024 and the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, according to Auto Industriya sources.
Compact Cruiser EV shown
Still, the Land Hopper name is only trademarked in Japan as searches in other countries’ IP and trademark databases yielded zero results. Perhaps the name might only be exclusive to Japan or it might just be a red herring to distract everyone.
NOT the Mitsubishi Destinator after all
Having a name trademark filed doesn’t necessarily guarantee it would be placed on a car. Mitsubishi threw a major curveball when it filed the Destinator name in multiple IP offices worldwide for its HR-V-rival which turns out to be called the Xforce. Even Perodua filed multiple names for what would eventually be called the Ativa.
We’ll just have to wait and see if the Land Hopper name is going to be applied on a new SUV model, a trike, or never at all.
Traded advertising for a career that fits his passion for cars. Enjoys spotting cars during his free time and has a soft spot for Japanese Kei cars but drives a thirsty manual sedan.
