Toyota’s flagship 4×4, the mighty Land Cruiser V8, enters the 61st year of the model range with an even higher level of luxury and claimed improvements to its off-road performance. The most obvious changes will be seen in the new exterior design at the front of the vehicle, with its over-sized bumper and fog lights and new grille.

Toyota comment, however, that the lower section of the front bumper has been sharply trimmed to ensure that the front overhang does not compromise the approach angle when driving off-road. There are new headlamp units, which now include daytime LED running lights. At the rear, the light clusters have been changed to match the new look at the front and the turn indicators on the vehicle are said to be far more evident both front and rear.

The first ever Maroc Challenge, covering some 2700km across Morocco, was a low-cost ‘rally raid’ event for both two and four-wheel drive vehicles. The actual route differed in places for the 4×4 vehicles, but the rules and regulations prevented ‘expensive’ vehicles from competing. 

It was claimed by the organisers that the whole event could have been covered for as little as €1200. Vehicles that entered had to have been registered before 31st December 1995. Covering some of the routes of previous Dakar events, this was obviously an exciting opportunity to be involved in a rally raid. The winning 4×4 was actually a Renault 4 Sinpar (below). This was a special edition of the Renault 4 and entered the Paris-Dakar in 1979 and 1980… when it came home in third place! 

When you look back over the last 25 years of 4x4s, the Vauxhall Frontera has to be included as a vehicle that did much to establish the ‘lifestyle’ segment of the market. It wasn’t without its faults, the company not perhaps having that great an engine range to support the concept at the time, but it was an honest, affordable, and highly capable 4×4.

It was a shame when it ceased to be produced, and not developed further. For 2012, Vauxhall returns to the 4×4 market with a new model in the, highly competitive, sub-compact SUV B-segment.

The partnership with Fiat, and the new model range that we saw in 2011 has resulted in a staggering increase in Jeep sales across Europe. The company claims a 61.8 per cent increase over the same period of 2010. Of course, any increase measured as a percentage does depend on where you start, and Jeep sales in 2009/2010 were on the floor. However, when the overall sales trend for the industry is down, this has to be a reason to smile for the iconic 4×4 brand.

It’s no surprise that the biggest increase was actually recorded in Italy where sales were up 117.6 per cent. France was the next major gain with a 71.7 per cent increase. The USA saw an increase of 44 per cent. Here in the UK it is a little less dramatic with sales up only 18 per cent, which is perhaps something of a disappointment.

The UK pick-up market is becoming even more interesting with news that from March, sales of the Chinese pick-up from Great Wall will begin in the UK.

Called the Wingle in China, the new model will – thankfully – be known as the Steed in the UK and as this was being written, vehicles were arriving at UK dealers for the March on sale date. The vehicle is being imported into the UK by the IM Group (Isuzu and Subaru) and at present there are around 32 Great Wall dealers, with the intention of this rising to about 40 this year.

Subaru has announced pricing and specification levels for its new All-Wheel Drive crossover vehicle, the XV. Priced from £21,295 for entry level 1.6i S models, the Subaru XV has officially been certified as the safest vehicle in its class.

Every XV is equipped with two core Subaru technologies – Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive and a Boxer engine. Three Euro V-compliant Boxer engines are offered with the new XV: 1.6 and 2.0-litre petrol and 2.0-litre diesel.