Toyota pulled the beloved FJ Cruiser out of America in 2014, but it has survived for years in other countries. However, we thought the last of them were out of production by now. Au contraire! This SUV still sells well in certain countries, so Toyota keeps making it. Amazingly, you can still buy a 2023 FJ Cruiser in some countries. 

We thought Toyota had stopped making the FJ Cruiser

The last region where the FJ Cruiser was still selling was supposed to be the Middle East. But this was to be its final year for sale there. In fact, a special FJ Cruiser Final Edition is sold in one country. However, now we know there are still two countries where you can purchase them. 

Both the Philippines and South Africa have them. According to CarBuzz, Toyota’s market share is over 50% in the Philippines. The SUV is made at the Hamura, Japan, assembly plant belonging to Hino Motors. Hino is a subsidiary of Toyota that primarily builds its heavy-duty trucks. 

How much does a 2023 FJ Cruiser cost?

Here’s the thing: Much of the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado shares components with the FJ. The first Lexus GS in the U.S. was really a rebadged Prado. So amortized over two models for so many years means the tooling for both has been paid for many times over. That means the FJ Cruiser is one cheap vehicle to build. 

The South African version has an MSRP of $44,000. That’s the same as a Ford Bronco Badlands. However, Toyota hasn’t upgraded the FJ in years, so the Bronco has technology and safety features that didn’t exist the last time the FJ saw an update. 

But it has a slightly updated dash with a small touchscreen. That allows it to offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Still, there are not enough safety features or general updates to make their way back to the United States. 

Wasn’t there going to be a new electric FJ Cruiser?

We hoped the LiteCruiser EV SUV concept shown in July would become our de facto FJ Cruiser. We liked everything about it, and Toyota received many requests to make it. Those plans seemed to be in the works. 

But last week, the company announced it would double down on electric sedan development and wouldn’t move forward with offshoot EVs like the LiteCruiser. Toyota was late to the EV arena and now needs to punch up its efforts to go after Tesla, which it has said it is targeting. 

Blame it on Tesla

So you can blame Tesla for the lack of an FJ Cruiser replacement in the foreseeable future. Or maybe Toyota is just putting up subterfuge. After all, once establishing an EV platform, the company could bonk any vehicle onto it without costly development time. So if an electric sedan is in the works, it wouldn’t take much effort to slip an FJ-like body onto that platform.  

Despite vanishing for the past decade, this beloved SUV still boasts a large following of enthusiasts. In some ways, it makes us wonder why Toyota couldn’t have found a way for the vehicle to remain in the U.S.