The granddaddy of Lexus SUVs, the opulent and expensive LX 570 is based on the equally-exclusive Toyota Land Cruiser. Ironically, the LX out-sold the Land Cruiser in the U.S. market by a margin of nearly two-to-one in 2012, with 5005 units moving off Lexus lots compared to only 2895 Land Cruisers. Maybe well-heeled customers have less of an issue paying $80,000 for a vehicle with an "L" on the grille than a "T." We see both the LX and Land Cruiser remaining body-on-frame for the foreseeable future.
Since it's tied at the hip with the Expedition, it's safe to say whatever fate befalls the Expedition will also befall the Navigator. In the near-term, it probably means powertrain upgrades that would add the 5.0-liter V-8 or EcoBoost V-6 (or both) from the F-150, as well a freshening inside and out. With the Town Car now gone, many limousine and livery operators are purchasing the Navigator for their "black car" duties, showing some resistance to Lincoln's insistence that the somewhat awkwardly-proportioned MKT is the new "Town Car." Near-term prospects are good, but further out becomes a little hazier.
The G-Wagen seems to be the vehicle that never changes. Certainly, from the standpoint of exterior styling, that's the case, with only minimal changes in its nearly 35-year history. But the G-Wagen gets a powertrain and interior update that roughly parallels the model cycle of the S-Class sedan, so the new models share the same seven-speed automatic and 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 on the G63 AMG model as can be found on the equivalent S-Class or ML. But the Mercedes-Benz Ener-G-Force concept shows that even a shape as iconic as the G-Wagen is open to a modern interpretation. Whether its ultimate successor will ride on a body-on-frame chassis or join the unibody fray along with the GL and ML is unknown.
The Armada's long-term prospects in the Nissan lineup are unknown. It's nowhere close to being the sales leader, with the compact Rogue taking that title, and fullsize SUVs in general have generally fallen out of favor with many customers. With Nissan corporate aggressively pursuing electrification and a conspicuously "green" image, the nearly three-ton Armada is an outlier. A next-generation Titan pickup is certainly on the horizon, but whether or not the Armada accompanies it remains to be seen.
With the transition of the Pathfinder to the unibody camp, the Xterra is one of two remaining body-on-frame models in Nissan's U.S. lineup. The Xterra sold even fewer units than the larger Armada, but in some regions of the country, particularly Southern California, Xterras are not uncommon. Since it shares so many components with the Frontier pickup, there's a good chance there will be a new Xterra when there's a new Frontier, but that's far from a sure thing.
The Sequoia is a niche product in the greater scheme of the Toyota product lineup, with sales being less than a tenth of the RAV4's and roughly equal to those of the FJ Cruiser. Would the roughly 13,000 Sequoias sold in 2012 be missed if it were discontinued? Perhaps, but with gobal sales approaching 10 million for 2012, the loss of the Sequoia wouldn't make a huge difference one way or the other. We know a new Tundra is coming for 2014, but we haven't heard anything on a new Sequoia. We'll have to wait and see on this one.
Toyota is so large and wealthy, that the number of Land Cruisers it sells is insignificant. Certainly in the U.S., with less than 3000 sales for all of 2012, it's a drop in the bucket, but the Land Cruiser carries a lot of symbolic weight for the brand because many see it as the epitome of solidity, ruggedness, comfort, and refinement, much like the Range Rover. We don't see the Land Cruiser disappearing from Toyota's U.S. lineup anytime soon, but if it did, you could still get the essentially mechanically identical vehicle in the Lexus LX 570. Sure, the Lexus costs a little more, but when you're talking about a starting price of more than $78,000, who's counting?
Although not the sales blockbuster the RAV4 is, the 4Runner sold a respectable 48,755 units for 2012, more than any single Scion model, the Avalon, Yaris, or Venza. For those customers that like a little ruggedness with their utilities, the 4Runner is hard to beat. It's likely to remain a part of the Toyota lineup for some time to come.
The FJ Cruiser shares many of its hard parts with the Land Cruiser Prado, best known in the States as the Lexus GX 460. As noted earlier, it sells approximately as many units as the fullsize Sequoia, but has a far more passionate following among enthusiasts. However, current-year sales are a fraction of what they were at their peak in 2006, when Toyota sold more than 56,000 of the retro-styled SUV. It is unlikely to see a second-generation.