Toyota files trademark for TJ Cruiser but it remains a concept for now

It looks like no one is allowed to use the name TJ Cruiser except for Japanese automobile magnate, Toyota. Yes, you read it right. The name TJ Cruiser is already trademarked by Toyota and will soon be used in the production version of the FT-4X Concept.

The trademark, which was filed under the United States Patent Trademark Office, covers the “automobiles and structural parts thereof” – meaning, like all other patents, everything in the TJ Cruiser belongs to Toyota. The TJ Cruiser is actually a cheaper version of the FJ Cruiser which has been recently phased out.

While the Toyota FJ Cruiser gained fans quickly after going into production (aside from being the successor of the also popular J40 Land Cruiser), after ten years, sales started to decline and a redesign wasn’t the most practical way to go. Of course, fans were bummed but nothing’s forever in this world, and so Toyota had to move on from the success that was the FJ Cruiser. Now, the Japanese automaker is bent on diverging from the “boring” cars and creating a more interesting vehicle such as the FT-4X.

Toyota FT-4X Concept was unveiled at the New York Auto Show in April, and has caught a lot of attention ever since. With the FT-4X Concept’s design, Toyota aims to attract more attention especially from millennials. They succeeded at this during the aforementioned auto show as this concept had been one of the most intriguing vehicles there.

Though fully functional, the FT-4X will not reach production as it was built to explore new ideas and possibilities – an experimental vehicle, we should say – while attracting the interests of people, especially millennials. The FT-4X is a combination of some level of ruggedness, a retro design and a range of “nifty” design features such as its rear hatch which can be opened in either horizontally or vertically. Cool, right?

The FJ Cruiser was a successful vehicle, but Toyota was already tired of its “boring” lineup and felt that it needed to inject life into the lineup. The FT-4X aims to fulfill its role to add life to the Japanese automaker’s fleet. According to Toyota studio design chief in California, Ian Cartabiano, the FT-4X has currently completed 75% of its production. If in any case Toyota decides to put the concept vehicle into production, we’re betting there will be a lot of revisions in styling to be able to keep this small SUV practical for production. We’re a bit worried by this though and we hope that Toyota doesn’t really make too many revisions if it decides to mass-produce the FT-4X Concept.

Reports say that Toyota might get the TJ Cruiser on its TNGA C-Platform which is also used by the Prius and mini Transformers lookalike that is the C-HR. For a Toyota fan, this idea is quite appealing, don’t you think? Now that Toyota has placed its stamp on the TJ Cruiser, we will have to wait for its next move. If it doesn’t give us a production version of the FT-4X Concept, we’re hopeful they stick to their promise to be less boring this year. Toyota, we’re counting on you!