Toyota Land Cruiser May Be Dead In America After All

We've got some bad news for fans of theToyota Land Cruiser: the big, luxurious four-wheel-drive SUV, which is a favorite among off-roading enthusiasts,will be discontinuedafter the 2021 model year. That's according to Motor Authority, which says that an anonymous dealership source confirmed the news after it was originally reported - and later, deleted - in a post on an off-roading web forum.

"It's a punch to the gut for all of us enthusiasts who love the product," the source told Motor Authority, making it clear that no one in the industry believes there's any chance the model line will be revived later.

The Toyota Land Cruiser is a giant in the 4x4 community, serving both as Toyota's longest-running nameplate, and as the second-longest-running SUV nameplate in the industry, after the Chevrolet Suburban. Toyota conducts much of its testing for the model line in the harsh, inhospitable Australian outback, ensuring that each iteration of the Land Cruiser released by the Japanese automaker can withstand some of the harshest, most severe conditions on planet earth.

The Land Cruiser's upmarket stablemate, theLexus LX, will reportedly live on past 2021, but with a twin-turbo V6 under the hood instead of the current V8.