While assessing the 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser, one TikTok user noticed some weird details. Bradley Hasemeyer published a video highlighting how the car is missing a third row of seats. This is despite looking like it very well should possess an extra seating capacity.

“Is this the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen in a vehicle before?” he asks at the top of his clip. Next, Hasemeyer (@hasemeyer) shows off the exterior of Toyota’s revamped SUV with a legendary namesake. “This is the 2025 Toyota Landcruiser,” following this, he heads to the back of the car. With its rear lift gate propped up, he explores the cargo area.

“Well I opened up the trunk and I was like cool. First row, second row,” he says, pointing out the car’s different seating areas. Missing, however, was the Land Cruiser’s third row. Which he found curious, since there are amenities fixed into portions of the car that would suggest otherwise.

“There’s no third row. But there’s cup holders, there’s USB chargers. There’s AC vents, there’s handles,” he says. One needn’t be Sherlock Holmes to surmise that these fixtures would indeed suggest an additional row of seats. Although there clearly isn’t, as demonstrated in the TikToker’s video.

2025 Land Cruiser: the Case of the missing Third-Row

Hasemeyer goes on to explain why this is the case. “Turns out they make this vehicle on a global scale. They already have enough three row SUVs in America. So this is only a two-row. But they were like, it’s too expensive, let’s just make them all the same and leave out the seats,” he says.

Other US car shoppers have noted this peculiar detail as well. The Car Mom blog highlighted that there’s even grab handles in addition to the other perks Hasemeyer noted. Yahoo! Autos also confirmed the TikToker’s reasoning as to why the 2025 Land Cruiser is offered in America with this layout. The outlet also highlighted that the 2025 Lexus GX, which is effectively a luxury Land Cruiser, sports a third row.

The two vehicles share similar build platforms. As the outlet states: “The new Land Cruiser and the new GX are very similar under the sheet metal, so it stands to reason that a trunk panel that fits on fits the other with relative ease. Why bother developing a new part?”

This also explains why sometimes, base model versions of vehicles with come with “blank buttons,” as Yahoo! indicates. That’s because it’s ultimately more affordable to churn out self-same parts and apply them to various trim levels. If the car isn’t outfitted with the option, then simply leave the area remiss.

Cannibalizing Sales?

Hasemeyer also says that Toyota has several third-row vehicles in its American lineup. The 4Runner, Highlander, and Sequoia are new offerings that give commuters an option for more seating. Which could be the reason why the JDM brand decided to leave the Land Cruiser as a two-row only vehicle stateside.

Perhaps the car maker didn’t want to create any competition among its offerings. Business Insider also noted the third-row omission, but states that the vehicle lived up to the hype in spite of this. Still, it’s curious that Land Cruisers of old were known to sport this design functionality. Which suggests that maybe Toyota wants to get folks who value third-row seating towards its other offerings.

Not that Toyota (and other car manufacturers) aren’t known to cherry-pick features across its vehicle lineup. Sometimes, this occurs with the same vehicles that roll off the assembly line. Take the newer Prius and Prius Prime, for instance. If drivers want an all-wheel drive Prius, they can most certainly get one.

However, if they went a Plug-In Hybrid capable of some all-electric mileage, then they’ll have to forego all-wheel driving. It’s worth noting that region-specific details across identical car makes and models isn’t exactly a new phenomena, either. This is largely due to government regulations that vary from country to country.

For instance, the Volkswagen Arteon is available in the United States. But engine options for the ride vary differently overseas. Folks can get gasoline, diesel, and plug-in hybrid variants of the car if they so choose. In the USA, its gasoline only.

Tailgating Mode

While there is no third-row option in the USA’s 2025 Land Cruiser, Hasemeyer did point out a use-case scenario for its cargo amenities. “I mean I guess it’s kinda cool for like a tailgate. You could still have cups here, drink. Charge up your phone. You just can’t really drive with it. That’s okay,” he says, while seated in the back of the vehicle.

Others who replied to the video surmised its missing third-row was due to another factor: the 2025 Land Cruiser’s four-cylinder hybrid powertrain. TikTokers remarked that the back row was left out in order to make room for the SUV’s hybrid battery. “It’s because the hybrid battery replaces the seat in US,” one penned.

Someone else echoed this sentiment, writing: “In Europe has the 3rd. But the hybrid battery is what stops the 3rd row. Hybrids are cool but Toyota has placed them stupidly,” they wrote.

Hasemeyer took the time to reply to one of the commenters, however. He didn’t seem to think that the Land Cruiser being outfitted with a hybrid battery was enough reason to leave it out a third row. “Right. I get that but still…” he commented.

MotorBiscuit has reached out to Hasemeyer via TikTok comment for further information.