2024 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado: Why no turbo diesel for PH?

Today we finally got confirmation that Toyota Motor Philippines is launching the new generation Prado (hopefully) soon.

Over the past few months, a lot of our friends have kept asking us when TMP will be launching the model. The anticipation is strong, especially for a vehicle that will probably approach (but hopefully not surpass) a PHP 5 million price tag.

The new model rides on the new and stiffer TNGA-F platform that is also shared (though probably scaled down in some ways) as the Land Cruiser 300. Expect enhanced off-road performance with better articulation, new traction management systems, and other tech goodies, as well as enhanced on-road driving performance.

The confirmation we got from the LTO document, however, confirms two things for us. The first is the naming. As you may be familiar, when Toyota revealed the “baby” version of the Land Cruiser, they used the Land Cruiser 250 name.

We were wondering if Toyota Motor Philippines was going to use the 250 or Prado, and now that was answered. The decision was probably in line with the long and successful history of the Prado name in the Philippine market.

The second thing was the choice of engine: they will go for the 2.4-liter turbo gasoline engine in our market. This T24A-FTS engine produces 281 PS and 430 Nm of torque, and people who have sampled the car tell us that it will leave the current 4.0L V6 with 275 PS and 381 Nm in the dust.

The question that many are asking is this: why no option for the 2.8L 1GD-FTV with 204 PS and 500 Nm of torque?

There were four powertrain choices announced by Toyota during the world premiere of the Land Cruiser 250: 2.4L turbo gasoline, 2.8L turbodiesel, 2.7L gasoline, 2.4L turbo gasoline hybrid, and a 2.8L turbodiesel mild hybrid. Each market gets to select and plan a variant that suits them best. For Japan, they get the 2.8L turbodiesel and 2.7L gasoline. For the Philippines, only the 2.4L turbo gas was selected, but why no option for a diesel when the current Prado has it? 

The answer to that can likely be found in the pricing of the current generation model as well as the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). If you look at the current model price list, you’ll find the Prado 2.8 turbodiesel priced at PHP 4.502 million, while the Prado 4.0L V6 at PHP 3.665 million. The reason for that difference is the 4.0L engine displacement allows it to have a very low import duty from Japan, while the 2.8L does not.

This huge price difference has led to Prado customers to go for the gasoline model, and just spend more on fuel because, well, they can afford it. This is a trend very much known to Toyota enthusiasts and industry observers, and it is likely the logic behind why Toyota has decided to select just the 2.4L turbo gasoline version for the Philippine market. We will miss that torque though. 

What we will really look forward to is the hybrid model that also uses the 2.4L turbo gasoline engine. This system allows the Prado to get upwards of 330 PS and 630 Nm of torque. Imagine that kind of performance in a Prado.

Now the waiting game begins, and we won’t be surprised if many serious customers are already calling up their nearest dealerships to try to get in line as early as possible, though we expect it won’t just be a matter of getting a queue number and waiting it out.