Toyota revamps iconic Land Cruiser with hybrid version

Toyota on Wednesday unveiled the first hybrid version of its Land Cruiser that it will bring to North America and other key markets as it seeks to put a high-margin and iconic sports utility vehicle back on the map.

The world's biggest automaker by sales said it will produce the new model of the brand that traces its roots to 1951 as well as a smaller, newly released variant at two factories in Japan and ship them overseas from there.

The new model will mainly - but not exclusively - be sold as a hybrid in the United States, which will give existing owners of less fuel-efficient Land Cruisers the option to switch to cleaner cars, said Hiroki Nakajima, Toyota's chief technology officer. "We'll offer vehicles that customers hope for," he said.

Land Cruiser models are relatively big cars that come with a higher profitability for Toyota, just as is the case for some other models such as its Alphard van, said Seiji Sugiura, an analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

"Land Cruisers and Alphards have a high profitability even under the Toyota brand," Sugiura said, adding that will go up further if models are sold under the Lexus brand.