I don't think your overall point is wrong about it being a small market, but I think especially in this community, that market is important. The use case described here is the vast majority of Overland travellers, and they aren't super well served by what is available in North America. Candidly, I don't think they are served by the Land Cruiser either, neither the 300 series nor the now-gone 200 series as both have similar "luxury bloat" problems.
All of our current offerings here represent some kind of significant and limiting compromise for the use case you described. If you want decent payload (i.e. 1 ton), it comes with a big footprint of a full size or larger truck (and most full sized trucks are not that great in payload, either, until you go to the HD series, which just makes the footprint problem worse). If you want something nimble and great off road and more "mid-sized", it comes with low payload (~1300-1500 lbs max). That doesn't go far if you've got camping gear, supplies, armour to protect the vehicle, and more than one passenger.
When I think of a touring rig, I want high payload, mid-sized, safe, and reliable.
Payload: I want to be able to bring extra fuel and water so I can explore with my family at my leisure far away from populated places. I want the payload to bring along some "Creature comforts" so that after 30 days on the road I'm not fed up of feeling roots in my back at night and smelling like a Sasquatch all day. And of course, I want to travel with my dogs, wife, and kid (who I also don't want smelling like Sasquatches). This really stretches the limits of 1500 lbs payload that I can get in most vehicles that match one of my other wants, which is...
Mid Sized: I want to be able to see little tracks off the side of the road and not be limited to saying "I wonder what's down there?" because my truck won't fit -- I want to just turn the wheel and check it out. We do this all the time on trips and have had a blast taking our Canyon down trails usually tackled by ATVs and Side-by-Sides. But given most of my travel will be highways between these little tracks, I also want...
Safe: There's no question that modern vehicles are safer than older ones. Airbags, crumple zones, etc. are all part of this equation. Modernity comes with other "nice to haves" -- heated seats and CarPlay make the driving experience much better, but "modern" usually gets a bit carried away and that brings me to...
Reliability: The only vehicle that, right now available at dealerships, that checks all my boxes is the Defender. I think the Defender is actually a great rig and it's on my list to consider, but I think it's too complicated and too "modern", which isn't a deal breaker but it's another compromise akin to "too big" or "not enough payload". It is not the kind of vehicle you can reasonably fix trailside. It's not even the kind of vehicle you can reasonably fix at a Land Rover dealership in some cases based on the TFL experience
That's why I'm sticking with a mid-sized truck right now -- it's the smallest amount of compromise in a rig that checks my boxes. Of course, all vehicles are a compromise, but none of the North American ones so far really offer me the compromise I'm wanting to make -- I am happy to compromise on power and comfort. I can see the world on a KLR650. I don't need to see it quickly or comfortably, and on a KLR I know I won't be either of those things. But the KLR doesn't come with Car Seat anchors, and when I discuss fabricating some with my wife she thinks it might be perceived by the local police as "irresponsible parenting" and she's probably right about that. Plus the two German Shepherds aren't trained to hang on nor do they like wearing the helmets, and the whole thing just would be a bit cramped with all of us in the saddle.
So what 4x4 can I buy in North America that does all of the above? If I had to choose between a 70-series and a domestic full size at a dealership, I wouldn't even test drive the full size. But even then, the Toyota would be a compromise on safety given the age of the design, even if it would check all of my other boxes. Still, that might be a better compromise for me than compromising on my other criteria.
But it didn't and doesn't need to be this way - Toyota took the LC in the direction of "Luxury" in the last 40 years, probably because of the market that NickW is talking about; the market is not big enough to sell a ton of Utilitarian LCs. But I want a car that checks all my boxes, and I'm sad about "what could have been" with the Land Cruiser. This is why I'm keen on the Grenadier -- I think that if instead of going Luxury Bloat, the Land Cruisers stayed 70-series utilitarian for the last 40 years but updated and modernized it, I imagine it would land somewhere in the neighborhood of what the Grenadier is trying to be.
I'm hopeful it pans out. Time will tell.
