The History Of Toyota MEGA Cruiser

The Toyota Mega Cruiser is a large SUV that bore a remarkable resemblance to the famous Hummer H1. It was put into production in 1995, but was discontinued for civilian production in 2002. Now it is mostly known as a military conversion for infantry transports as well as mounted howitzers and mobile SAM's for the Japan Self Defense Forces.

The Mega Cruiser was never largely intended for civilian use and thus was sold only in Japan mostly for the police, fire rescue, military transports, etc. This vehicle was intended to test designs that would eventually make their way into mass produced Toyota SUV's (like the Land Cruiser), but was an unsuccessful sale.

The Mega Cruiser featured a 4.1 L turbodiesel I4 engine. The engine focused on producing high amounts of torque at low revs. The SUV featured front, center, and rear differentials, as well as four wheel steering, and proved as a workhorse of an SUV at the time.