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The American wing of Toyota’s global design network unveiled their version of a Toyota Landcruiser for the moon during the company’s 50th anniversary of Calty Design Research.

The Japanese auto giant unveiled a concept on Thursday called the Baby Lunar Cruiser (BLC), and the design of this lunar vehicle is unmistakenly Landcruiser.

To be honest, is there any better off-road car to base a moon buggy design on than the famous Hilux/Land cruiser design? Those things go anywhere.

Calty Design Research was founded in 1973 in California, and since its beginnings, it has been responsible for some pretty iconic and out-there designs like the Toyota Celica as well Tacoma (The US version of the Hilux).

The world is heading back to the moon, and so most car manufacturers have jumped at the opportunity to showcase what they can offer future moon colonists. After all, the Groot Trek would have been so much easier if the Voortrekkers had a few bakkies.

The BLC rover is mostly inspired by the US version of the second-generation Land Cruiser, the FJ40. Both vehicles share a grille design, upright stance and a boxy body. The biggest difference is that the concept has an expansive glass canopy that extends almost to the front of the vehicle, giving the driver and their passengers “unobstructed views of the lunar surface in front of them.”

Inside the vehicle is equipped with a dashboard-spanning augmented reality display, and adjustable spaceframe seats for flexibility. The rover also has joy-stick steering that Toyota claims gives it ‘incredible manoeuvrability’.

The BLC is obviously a concept vehicle, so there are very little in the way of specs on the engine etc, so dont expect to see this baby at the local sheep auction in Swellendam soon.

All these designs may still be pie-in-the-sky ideas, but the innovation that goes into these concept cars often results in real-world improvements for those who drive their cars on planet Earth, so let the techies play.

Have a look at the below video of the BLC and then imagine how lekker this thing will drive in the Karoo.

[source:robbreport]