In Appreciation of the New Toyota Century

Posted by Kevin on June 26th, 2018

For the first time in 21 years, a new Toyota Century sedan is on sale in Japan. The limousine’s classic design has been tastefully updated, with the type of luxury normally associated with the company’s Lexus brand:

The detail work is astounding — the phoenix badge is hand-carved by a master craftsman over six weeks, the front grille has a infinite loop patterned backdrop based on a traditional Japanese design, and the black exterior paint uses a seven-stage process similar to Ultrasonic Blue Mica and Infrared from the Lexus color palette.

Much like the Lexus LS, the Century boasts an expansive rear cabin, with a massaging seat, personal climate controls, and a 11.6-inch entertainment system:

Toyota has replaced the previous generation’s bespoke 5.0L V12 engine with the 5.0L V8 hybrid powertrain found in the fourth-generation LS 600h. The total system horsepower is 425 horsepower and 376 lb.ft of torque.

The Century will retail for ¥19.6 million ($178,000 USD) and is available in four colors: black, silver, blue and burgundy. Only 50 will be sold each month.

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Comments
mikeavelli
Love it lol
mikeavelli
Love it lol
C
  • C
    CIF
  • June 26, 2018
Gecko
Even though Toyota is a company that is deeply steeped in tradition, the decision to keep cars like the Crown and Century always surprises me - especially with the elevation of Lexus in Japan over the last decade. How many Crowns do they sell globally and in what markets? How do those numbers stack up with the 4GS?

I'd rather see ToMoCo retire the Crown in favor of the GS and retire the Century in favor of a special edition LS. Even if in JDM, they call the car "Lexus Crown" for a generation or two, I just have a hard time seeing or accepting the death of the GS when they are willing to keep and invest in the Crown for what I know to be JDM-only. For LS, come up with a LWB version that has all of the Crown luxury features like wool seats and call it Lexus LS Century or something - I don't know. It just seems terribly inefficient and short sighted to me.

Its confusing to me because in some regards, Toyota is quick to make decisions about what models to cut and which ones to keep, but the Crown and Century are two I just don't really understand considering their limited distribution.
The Century is a sacred model for Toyota. Don't expect it to disappear anytime soon. Sales numbers are basically irrelevant with the Century.

Toyota sells a ton of Crowns in Japan and a few neighboring Asian markets. The Crown remains quite popular for Japan. Also even though today the Crown is sold in limited markets, if you think about it the Crown is actually a closer competitor to the E Class and 5 Series than the GS ever was. There are more options, trims, and engine variants offered on the Crown than there ever were on the GS. The irony though is that the Crown is built primarily for the Japanese market, and is not meant as a global model. Yet the GS has always been a very close cousin to the Crown in terms of size and platform.
farid
my wish is that lexus have a ultra luxury brand (LEXUS CENTURY):heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes:
farid
my wish is that lexus have a ultra luxury brand (LEXUS CENTURY):heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

F