Toyota has gone to the dark side with a special Matte Black edition of the LandCruiser Prado in Japan to add a bit of menace to the off-roader.
Australia’s best-selling large SUV, the Prado, is nearing the end of its life cycle and is expected to be replaced with an all-new version next year, but Toyota is keeping it fresh with a series of limited edition versions.
The latest is the Matte Black edition that has been added to Toyota Japan’s model line-up. But will it come to Australia?
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Well, according to a Toyota Australia spokesperson, it’s not a yes but it’s not a no.
“Toyota Australia is continually studying the market for new opportunities to offer exciting new products to Australian customers. At this stage however, we have no announcements to make on any updates to Toyota Prado,” the spokesperson said.
The market-leading Japanese giant has a history of introducing international special-edition models here, so there is every chance it eventually could end up in Australian showrooms. Watch this space.
The Matte Black edition - unsurprisingly - adds a bunch of matte black touches to the Prado, including the grille, fog light bezels, and headlight surrounds. It also gains fresh six-spoke 18-inch matte black aluminium wheels.
Toyota has not made any changes under the skin of the Prado for the special edition so it continues on in Japan with the option of a 2.7-litre petrol engine or the 2.8-litre turbo-diesel unit plumbing out 150kW/500Nm driving all four wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission.
The last time Toyota updated the Prado was in July last year with a few styling tweaks and additional safety gear.
As CarsGuide reported last week, the most likely launch timing for the next-gen Prado will be midway through next year.
Despite its age - it’s nearing on 13 years on sale - the Prado is still the top seller among its mainstream-branded large SUV rivals.
In 2022, Toyota has sold 12,978 Prados to the end of June, marking a 27.6 per cent increase over the same period last year.
The next most popular model is the Prado’s stablemate, the Kluger, with 6206 sales for the first six months of this year.
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