The Mega Cruiser concept

As development work continued, Toyota began thinking about making a tamer version of the BXD10 for government agencies and rescue workers who needed a no-nonsense, go-anywhere off-roader. It unveiled a concept called Mega Cruiser at the 1993 Tokyo motor show and tentatively announced it could make over 1000 examples annually. “If the car is popular at the show, maybe we’ll build it,” announced Toshio Nonaka, the Mega Cruiser’s project chief, during the event.

Parked so show-goers could get a good look at its four-wheel steering system, which was built with parts from the Land Cruiser, the Mega Cruiser turned heads in Tokyo but it wasn’t the only noteworthy model displayed by Toyota. Another one of the six concepts it unveiled in the Japanese capital that year was a humble-looking model called RAV4 that forever changed the SUV market when it reached production.