In this paper, we define and study a four-parameter model called the transmuted Burr XII distribution. We obtain some of its mathematical properties including explicit expressions for the ordinary and incomplete moments, generating function, order statistics, probability weighted moments and entropies. We formulate and develop a log-linear model using the new distribution so-called the log-transmuted Burr XII distribution for modeling data with a unimodal failure rate function, as an alternative to the log-McDonald Burr XII, log-beta Burr XII, log-Kumaraswamy Burr XII, log-Burr XII and logistic regression models. The flexibility of the proposed models is illustrated by means of three applications to real data sets.