Toyota Built a 2,000-HP, 220-MPH Land Cruiser for SEMA

Because there’s nothing that can’t be improved by adding horsepower.

byWill Sabel Courtney|
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In the battle for headlines from SEMA, nothing quite beats adding horsepower. Clearly, someone powerful at Toyota knows this, because for this year’s SEMA show, the carmaker cranked a Land Cruiser up to 2,000 horsepower. According to Toyota, that’s enough power to send this rhinocerine sport-ute all the way to a top speed of 220 miles per hour, earning it the name “Land Speed Cruiser.”

The keystone to making those insane numbers, according to Toyota’s press release, are a pair of Garrett turbochargers that the carmaker describes as “volleyball-sized” strapped to the 5.7-liter V8. But snails the size of, well, prehistoric snails are far from the only change Toyota made to convert the Land Cruiser into the Land Speed Cruiser. Indeed, the frame of this massive SUV was so heavily modified, Toyota had to yank off the body clean off the frame to wedge all the high-speed alterations inside. Putting it back together, the carmaker slammed the body closer to the ground—the better to help the 2,200-hp Toyota break the double-century mark.

“From the outside, the Land Speed Cruiser appears quite normal, quite subtle,” motorsports technical center manager Chuck Wade said in the release. “This is what makes it so special. Every single system and component has been touched.”

Toyota’s announcement didn’t mention whether or not the Land Speed Cruiser has actually hit 220 mph yet, or if that’s just the slammed SUV’s predicted top speed. For what it’s worth, we’re hoping the company hasn’t actually gone for Vmax yet—because we’re really hoping it’ll invite us along when it goes for it. It’s a 2,000 horsepower Land Cruiser. How could we not want to drive it?

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