Toyota Century

Podcast Episode: 0266
Can an Average company make a High enD Model?

​Can a vehicle embody the pinnacle of understated luxury while remaining virtually unknown outside its home country? Discover the Toyota Century, a masterpiece of engineering and tradition, which has been the hidden gem in Toyota's crown since 1967. This episode ​unravels the rich history and ​cultural

significance of the Century, a vehicle that stands above even Lexus in Toyota's hierarchy and serves as the choice of Japan's elite. With its commitment to quality and craftsmanship, could the Century redefine what luxury means in different markets? Join us as we untangle the intricate threads of tradition, innovation, and cultural perception that make the Toyota Century a fascinating subject for any luxury vehicle enthusiast.

       A century, over a hundred years. Okay, exactly a hundred years, one century. But in the automotive world, century comes to mind for a multitude of different vehicles, but one main vehicle in particular sets the stage for its name. Its name is derived from its founder's birthday when the vehicle first came out, and with it that, they say, is just history the Toyota Century, the top echelon of the Toyota Motor Corporation, sitting above standard Toyota products, hell, even Lexus products. Century is their top-tier brand, although it's void of selling these things in North America. The Century brand of vehicles is now growing with a new SUV. But can Toyota do more and can it make Century into its own dedicated brand? Today, AutoLooks is going to take a look at the past, the present and the future of Toyota's Century models.
 
      Welcome back to the AutoLooks podcast. I am your host, as always, the doctor to the automotive industry, Mr. Everett Jay, coming to you from our host website at AutoLooks.net. If you haven't been there, stop by check it out. Read some of the reviews, check out some of the ratings. Go to the Corporate Links website page. Big or small, we have them all Car companies from around the globe, all available on one direct location and that is AutoLooks.net. Click the corporate links page at the top and you can be brought to all the different car companies from around the globe. We got ones from all the different countries that you never even thought had car companies from. Click the links, go to their websites, even see some of the vehicles they produce, all available from one website, AutoLooks.net. The AutoLooks podcast is brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by PodBean.com. If you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email over at [email protected]. 

         So, like we said in the beginning century, I think in my home country one of our top tier bands that sings about Canada, the Tragically Hip, said it best. "You're ahead by a century". Yeah, I got to take reference to music here because you know music flows through everything. That's something we're going to talk about in a future podcast.
 
        But with this a century Toyota developed a high-end brand and we're not talking like premier or luxury, we're talking high-end brand. Sure, it falls under the Toyota name, but it does use its own logo. So, it's not a whole heck of a lot of Toyota into it. But you got to remember the Japanese market is completely different than one in North America. In North America we want to buy a Lexus because we're better than our neighbor who has a Toyota. Oh, I have the Lexus ES. Ooh, it's better than my Camry. No, it's not. It's the same freaking thing, just got a few more luxury touches to it and, when it comes down to Lexus, a few more eyes on it than the Camry. There's a little bit more fit and finish that goes into it. But the century brand, created in November of 1967, coming all the way up to today, has a very few generations of this vehicle over its time. Now it's getting an SUV counterpart, the century SUV which we all know and we have raid and gave it a copycat award because it does look like the Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Come on, it's kind of similar to how you know, the Aurus Senate looks just like a Rolls-Royce Phantom and, if you even go back, the old Chrysler Imperial concept from the early 2000s.
 
       But the Century is the top tier of Toyota engineering. Their sedan was essentially their flagship product. It essentially was made as a limo product. Originally derived its name from the 100th birthday of Saakshi Toyota, born in February 14th 1867, the founder of Toyota Industries. So, when they came up with a name for this vehicle, they figured. Oh, what are we going to call it? Well, our founder was born 100 years ago. Okay, let's go with that, let's go with that. What can we think of you know 100 years? It was like a century ago. I just call it the Century and we'll figure it out later. Well, it's stuck and today the Toyota Century is what you consider the top tier of their products. Now we all get it. North America, we do have our own Century here as well. The Buick Century no longer exists. But I remember as a kid seeing Buick Century's running around and seeing them it's like, oh, cool Buick Century. So, when I heard the Toyota one, I'm like, oh, they're just trying to use the American Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, put the brakes on there.
 
      You know the two of them are both kind of old, so Toyota really didn't steal the name. They utilized essentially a birthday for it. When you think about it, the Toyota Century could be Toyota’s gift to their founder. It's currently used by the imperial house of Japan, the prime minister of Japan and most government leaders and executive businessmen. So, this thing has a very target market similar to that of Hongqi from China. It basically did the same thing, only for government officials and high-end business clientele. That's it. Regularly. People don't get their hands on it. Well, centuries are a little bit different. You somewhat can. Now they're similar to an Austin Princess, Daimler DS420, Cadillac, Series 70, Mercedes Maybach, a Royce Phantom or even, if you want to really go back to those days, a Zil Limo. 

​      It can only be purchased at specifically identified Toyota store locations in select markets. They don't make this. From my side of the world. It comes in right-hand drive only, no left hand. So, if you want to drive one over here, you got to switch to the other side. If you ever wondered about their logo, okay, their logo is the gold Phoenix logo called the Hou-ou Fuschicho.
 
       Hopefully I got that right and Japanese people listening to this send us a message. Tell us how to say it properly, cause I'm trying to do my best here. It's from the Sinospheric Mythology. It represents the Imperial House of Japan and East Asian cultural sphere, which includes Japan, China, Korea and Vietnam. So, it's essentially saying the century is the gold standard for this area. This is made for the Imperial House. This is made for the top-tier Asian clienteles. Now, we're not going to cut everybody out, but at the beginning, yeah, let's just make it Japan only.
 
       The styling has essentially remained the same, virtually unchanged. The vehicles, the century sedans you get now from the original century sedans in 1967. Trust me, when they redid it just a couple years ago, I looked and go that's just an enhancement. That's not a new design, really it is. But you just kind of bring it up to today's technology with little you know key features with it, when the design's good, it's a lot like a lot of other things with Toyota. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
        Remember, the Camry is running on a platform that was developed in the 80s. My Tacoma outside is riding on a platform from the early 90s. Now, how many car companies out there like Chrysler is a perfect example of it. They get a great platform and then they fucking change it for the next one. Perfect example of that was the Dodge Intrepid. When they built that cab-forward design of the original Intrepid for 1990, what was it? 94, 93? I had a 94 Concorde back in the day and those things were like bulletproof. The 3.5-liter V6 in those cars was amazing. The platform was great. I got over 300,000 kilometers on mine. My dad got over 270,000 on his.  They went forever and then they released the second generation, put a 2.7 in it that blew up on you from a frame that rotted out. It's like you had a good thing. Why did you change it? And Toyota has never done that with the Century, because they built it perfect. 

​       The only other changes, besides essentially three generations of the Century product, has been the inclusion recently of their SUV generation. This has been done due to the success and history of the Century nameplate in Asian marketplaces and a few others as a top tier product. And now, with more people going after these high end or premier catalogs, especially in the Asian marketplace, China has Hong Kong, which is going up against Rolls-Royce and Bentley. You can't just let the British own it forever. Now. Everybody else wants a piece of this pie. So, Toyota decided to give it an SUV to make it better.
 
       For today they're usually painted black, which kind of donates to its success. Um, you know you, you can always find one. They're black, they're black. You know, don't have to worry about getting this horrible antique burgundy from the 80s Toyota Century. No, they're black. Got to remember most limos are white, silver or black. I always like saying that. Always bet on black. That's what Beavis always told me from Beavis at Butthead. If you didn't know that, you need to go and play bb's butthead mini golf. It's, it's awesome now.
 
      The Nissan president was its closest Japanese competitor and this actually put up a fight between the two car companies for supremacy in the high-end market of the Japanese marketplace. But Toyota kind of won over a lot more people and once they got their hand into the government and made it the mainstay vehicle for the Emperor of Japan, c'est la vie. They kind of took it. A few other notable competitors would be the Mitsubishi Debonair, the Isuzu Stateman DeVille and the Mazda Roadpacer. Now, the funny thing is the Isuzu Stateman DeVille and the Mazda Roadpacer are both derived from the GM Holden line. Yeah, so they're not even Japanese. Derived from the gm holden line. Yeah, so they're not even Japanese. So, besides the Nissan president, the Mitsubishi debonair would really be the only other main Japanese competitor. 

        Now, over the years, like we said, there's only been three generations. Getting back to 1967, there's only three, three generations of the Toyota century. That's how they built this thing so good. And the funniest thing is the first generation the G20, the G30, and the G40, we're going to explain what those mean a little bit later on, started in November 1967 when the vehicle came out, and went all the way up to March of 1997. Nearly a full 30 years, you know 29 years and a few months, almost 30 years. That's a long time for a vehicle, but you have to remember you're going through the end of the 60s, into the 70s, into the 80s and into the beginning of the 90s. Not a lot of tons of technological changes and designs really happened. You were able to carry vehicles for so long during those periods, especially through the 80s. Yeah, everybody wanted to stay ahead of everyone else, but we were still able to hold on to products like this over this time.
 
       When it was released, it came with a V8 engine only, which made it the third post-war Japanese car available with a V8 motor. It was originally based on a 1964 Crown 8 platform. Because Toyota knew they had great platforms and great engines. We're going to put a bigger engine in this vehicle. There are only two other cars in our market that have V8s in it. We got it. The Americans love their V8s, but we're going to put this thing up against Rolls-Royce. We got to have a power plant that's just as powerful as a statement we need to make.
 
          They dropped the V8 now underneath the hood and then they utilized their crown platform. Now the crown platform was essentially the birthplace of Lexus. Now, the Crown platform was essentially the birthplace of Lexus. Yeah, Lexus may have come around was it 1989 or was it 86? One of those two but they originally derived from the Crown platform. Even the original LS built for the American marketplace all American specifications because they knew the Americans would drop tons more money on a luxury nameplate than a standardized product. Now what do you think? The us had accurate infinity and Lexus and Mazda even considered bringing up their mani brand. You want to hear more about that. We did an entire podcast about Mazda’s luxury brand a while back. You can go back and take a listen to it after. This one's pretty good. You'll learn some stuff about some cool mass luxury things. Besides mani, they had a couple others, but Lexus was given birth from the Crown platform and so was the Century.
 
      Now the unfortunate thing for this is Toyota was actually the second product to come out. It arrived two years after the Nissan President. Now Nissan wanted to call it the President because they literally wanted to go after all government officials. They were starting to pick up on the idea of it and Toyota couldn't have that. No, no, no, no, no, no. We got to do something cool. We got to do something better. They created the Century.
 
        But, unlike the Nissan President, the Century stayed on, and it stayed on for so long, even with cool technology. It had, back in the day, electromagnetic door latches with interior and exterior electrically operated door handles on a car in 1967. Hell, at that point in time I was just glad if I can get something other than a radio in my car. Hell, most of us were still hoping we can have a radio, and if you're on a Volkswagen you're hoping for heat. Yeah, it originally had column shifters with the base model. The Type A and Type B manuals were eventually phased out between 1973 and 1974. So, unless you wanted to pay for the base manual, you had to get a stick shift. So early generations had a big V8 and had a stick shift in it. You have to remember 1967, we're going all the way up to 1974. You get seven years of possible vehicles with a stick shift in a century. Now, trust me, that would be something cool to have Blow people's minds, not just the car but what's in it. 

        In 1971, they added climate control Because you got to remember this is the top tier of the luxury makes. In 73, they saw a change of the locks, taillights and the addition of disc brakes. November 78, fuel injection was added to meet new emission standards. This changed the car to what they called the C30. So, the C20 was the original platform. When they made enough changes to it, the C30 came into play. A brand new 4-liter V8 was added in November 1982, along with new exterior appearance which then changed it to the c40. What a lot of people remember these days.
 
       Now, this thing cruising on a cloud of air essentially had a suspension of trailing arms front and airbag support springs in the rear which made this thing feel like you're just floating on a cloud in September of 1987 and received a light makeover not full, got to remember. The C30 had more of a makeover. The C40 was more of a change to the engines and a little bit more of the imperious 1987 and we do mean light makeover electronically operated, four-speed automatic transmission, floor-mounted shifter front bucket seats due to the shifter meant a loss to the front bench. An updated grille and cornering lamps were integrated into the headlight surround so you can actually see easier around corners, making it safer for your limo driver to chauffeur you around. But you got to remember this is 20 years after it came out. 
 
       Also in the 80s, right before the end of the decade, Toyota finally stated the fact that this vehicle may seem like a limo on its own, but they saw the North American market building these big, long stretched body vehicles and the Japanese market wanted to get into that. 1989, the Century Limousine appeared. Long stretched body vehicles and the Japanese market wanted to get into that. 1989, the century limousine appeared. Its wheelbase was similar to that of the DeVille, the Town Car, the S-Class and the Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. So not a full-scale stretched limo but still limo style a padded vinyl roof with opera windows in the center pillar. Where the stretch was added is how you distinguish the limo additions from the standard ones. So besides it looking a little bit off because the center pillar is a little bit different that'd be b pillar is a little bit thicker you got the opera windows in vinyl to make it kind of stand out. By September of 1990 there was also an added extended century model added to the lineup. It. So now three different models, one big block engine and all sorts of luxury.
 
       Over nearly 30 years 3,000 were built. That's it, 3,000 in 30 years.  Kind of sounds like Lamborghini. Back in the early 2000s, when the Gallardo came out, they had less than 3,000 built. Now they produce that in a year. 

     No, the Century wasn't for a high-end client. Well, it was for the high-end clientele, but it wasn't mass numbers and Toyota wanted to keep it that way. They were making money off of it, so it was doing its justice and because the platform was sold, it had been paid for. See, that's the thing you, its better to use platform technology to save on upfront costs. Utilizing a good working platform for a vehicle over such a long period of time, you eventually get down to the point where you don't need to make many updates besides technological and essentially the vehicle just becomes a bread and butter for your corporation. Dodge did that, or I should say Ram did that, when they kept the previous design, the Ram Classic, around as their entry level. The whole platform had been paid off, so it was just extra money in the bank for them. And since they didn't have anything competing in the midsize market, they kept it as a midsize priced product at a full-size scale Ingenious. 

       The second generation appeared in April 1997. The G50.  Yes Toyota kept with the G thing going. This one wasn't as long essentially 20 years, so one decade less from April 1997 to January 2017. This one was powered by a new V12 motor in place of the former V8, and had a very similar design to the original, with some updated modern touches four-speed auto until the six-speed intelligent arrived in 2005. The suspension was upgraded to double wishbone control arms in the front and the rear wheel airbag support springs in the rear. It is the first and only front engine v12 product ever produced in Japan. So, if you're ever wondering that there are no supercars from Japan that have been made with a front engine V12. Only the Toyota Century ever came that way Only one. Now, if you listen to this podcast, it's like in the future. I'm talking 2025. Right now, I'll say it's like 2035 and Toyota's finally created another front engine one. Well, yeah, I'm wrong, but until then, as of now, the 2025 is the only V12 front engine vehicle ever produced in the Japanese market. 

       Not for in the limited equipment as a century became a standalone product in 2003. It's a brief use of CNG. You remember late 90s and early 2000s people started thinking of compressed natural gas for powering systems. I remember seeing Miata’s when I was younger. It's kind of a neat idea but you know, a little bit of extra goes into it. You know, safety-wise. 

    In 1998, they started selling them in Europe, China and the Middle East as government cars. Only 100 left-hand cars were ever made. So yeah, I was a little wrong. They did come out in the left-hand market, but on a very, very limited basis. You have to remember these markets Europe, China and the Middle East. Europe a lot of the ones that went over there, mostly Great Britain. China, a lot of the ones that went there, mostly Hong Kong. Middle East is really where you got your left-hand derivative models. Some of the left-hand cars actually have made it state-sized for promotional and testing purposes. 

        Toyota executives and North American headquarters wanted to see if the American market would pick up on a premium well, not premium, i.e. premiere or high-end Toyota product. They wanted to see if Century can make it in one of the biggest automotive markets in the world. Well, at that point in time, talking 1998, it was the biggest automotive market at that time. So, they wanted to see if they could make it, but unfortunately, they didn't see a good business case for this. So, the century never came to America. Besides the ones that they brought over to showcase it, they never actually sold any stateside, and the second generation was actually the only one ever sold outside of Japan. They wanted to open it up and see what the markets would respond to it. Can a high-end Japanese car with a Toyota name on it sell? Well, no, these vehicles were essentially made, like we said, as limousines to be chauffeured around, and the most emphasis in these vehicles was actually towards leisure of the rear occupants. 

       So, the rear seats were able to tilt back with a massage option. The front seats pulled flat on the passenger side for the rear passenger to put their feet up, so they could literally stretch out with your laptop in hand and work from the back of your vehicle from one business meeting to the next. The rear doors are equipped with a self-close mechanism. The door would close on its own when the latch meets the striker. You don't have to slam this door, basically just put it and it goes. Pretty cool. It's kind of like how your hatch, your electronic hatch, comes down and you don't have to slam it. It comes down and hits the back and goes. It has that little pull in at the end. That's what these doors did. 

       They wanted to make it a better experience for everyone. Now remember the original ones 30 years, 3,000 of them. Okay, 1,000 every decade Because they sold the second generation in more marketplaces. They actually sold more of them overall. They sold 9,500 of them just in the 20 years. A decade less and three times more products. So, they did find a bear market for it. But Toyota is all about quality control and, as they learned with the century product when you started getting into building more of them, you open a can of worms, essentially because you open yourself up to more issues and if you're producing more, you're not taking the time to see every single detail, unless you're going to build an even bigger facility with more people in it, which Toyota really didn't want to do. For the century product, they were selling, but they weren't selling to the expectation that Toyota originally wanted. 

       From 2006 to 2008, the Century, Royal or G51 model came out. This became the official car of the Emperor of Japan, specifically built for the Emperor of Japan in mind. It was built off of one design. It had three sedans and one hearse ever made. The cassette is for the emperor, that's. It had wool cloth interior, granite entry steps and rice paper headliner. The front is upholstered in complete leather and had a double wishbone on the front and the rear with a supplemental airbag spring and, to top it all off, five-liter V12 in a vehicle that stretched 20 feet long and 6.5 feet wide. 

      The G51 Century, was it? That was purpose built for the Emperor of Japan. Essentially, you know, kind of like that Cadillac, that special Cadillac built for the American President. You know they're only built in very limited numbers. Well, this thing was as well. It's kind of cool. Like before, the same businessmen that were buying the first generation could get the same thing the emperor was cruising around in. Now, you know, only over a two-year period 2006, 2008, they only built a specific amount of them for the emperor, but if you've ever seen the Queen of England before she passed away still rode around in that old school Daimler. It's kind of cool. It was an old car, but they loved it. 

        Now, in June 22nd 2018, the third generation, or the G60, was presented to the world. This was not just cool; this was a rebirth Similar design but a more modern take on it and more features. This one came as your standard limo sedan, but they also had a limited model convertible and a one-off TRD Special Edition. We'll get into that one in just a little bit. Toyota decided to get away from the V12. Too big of an engine, too much of a gas guzzler, so they went back to a V8 engine and because they knew about hybrid technology through the Prius, they decided to do a V8 engine with hybrid synergy drive and the same output as a V12, with way better fuel efficiency. Because, you know, Toyota loves hybrids and they're always thinking about how they can improve on what they have. And they did this. But the G60 started upping the century main plate. It started building them at a rate of 50 per month. It was a fully handmade production and they were not sold outside of Japan. That is, it. Its essential appearance influenced the Century Royale, also from Japan.
 
      The addition of collision avoidance and t-connect. The mirrors were removed from the hood mounting and put on standard sides with turn signals involved. Integrated heater with massaging receipts. Adjustable power leg with rear seat opposite the driver. Rear mounted 20-inch LCD screen allows you to control most products throughout the vehicle Three wool color options and two leather color options, both with wood inlays for your interior. The column is now back onto the floor mounted.
 
       Transmission shifter all automatic, no stick shifts anymore, multi-link suspension with a supplemental airbag spring, and this essentially only allowed Century to have that specific V8. Now you got to get it. Toyota loves hybrids and loves saving gas. That hybrid synergy V8, underneath the hood of those Centuries the third generation was not available in the fifth generation LS. That wasn't an option, it was a Century-only product. So even other places in the world that wanted this big block V8 with a hybrid system couldn't get it. It was dedicated only to the Toyota Century product. Pretty cool, but kind of takes away from some of the other vehicles. Since we weren't getting the Century over on my side of the pond, I would have liked to still have that V8 hybrid motor from the other side. Now they eventually got into their own V8 hybrid system, but on their own Toyota it took until 2019.
​
      Aiko Toyoda makes a special edition of the Toyota Century, the Toyota Century GRmn, to showcase a sporty side of the Century product. Now, he did this because of his passion for racing. Yes, the CEO of Toyota loved racing, loved going racing. He raced this Century GRmn to the track. It's essentially why it was done now. They were never commercially sold. There were only two cars ever made and only for the Toyota of Japan executives, so only executives on the board and Toyota headquarters in Japan were ever allowed to drive this thing. There's never been plans to sell the GRmn Century sedan, but there is a possibility of selling the century SUV GRmn, which they showcased when the SUV came out and the SUV arriving in September of 2023, the G70, as it's called. You think they would go something else, you know, leave the G's for the sedan and go with something else for this. But you know, could have called it the H10. Yeah, maybe not. 

     The brand-new Century SUV was brought out due to an increase in SUV and CUV sales all over the world. More customers were starting to demand a bigger vehicle and instead of building a minivan for Sentry, they went all out and built an SUV. But they did this with the mindset of this could become a global Sentry product. Maybe, just maybe, sentry can go up against Rolls-Royce and become a global high-end brand. That's a thought, but only right now. It was built on the GAK platform, which shared with the Grand Highlander and Lexus TX. So, yes, cruising around your Toyota Grand Highlander as I like to call it the Grand RAV4, because it has more of the front end of previous generation RAV4s than what I have that's what it looks like, literally. Take a 2020 RAV4, stretch it back a bit and you got yourself a Grand Highlander. You should have just called it the Grand RAV Built on that platform. So, they're utilizing a platform that already exists, but there's a major difference in it. We're going to get into that.
 
     This vehicle used a plug-in hybrid electric power plant, a 3.5-liter V6. Yeah, you think an SUV. They would try and bring back the V12 or even use the hybrid V8 in it. Nope, they wanted to scale it back. They did a 3.5-liter V6. Now the Century SUV is, just like the sedan, only sold in Toyota stores in Japan and Lexus dealers in China. So now the SUV is moving out First Century since the fall of the second-generation sedan to be sold outside of Japan. Now it's built to maximize rear space for occupants, just like the sedan, but more upright comfort.
 
      Now, as we've talked about in a review about the Toyota Century SUV, it does look like a Rolls Royce. But the build quality on this thing you would think, oh, it's probably just like BAW, who has them. Was that G90 that looks just like a Mercedes G-class? Well, okay, they're just doing a knockoff, right? No, the century SUV is built to quality. There's three hours, three hours of inspection to each vehicle built and the master inspector has 17 specific steps to go through to ensure these vehicles are perfect. And the paint has to be immaculate. Any deviation, a hair, anything, they'll send it right back. These things are built to high quality.
 
      Now their plans are officially to run 30 units per month. You know, a little bit less than the century sedan, but you got to ramp up production. They don't want to jump fully in the pool; they're just taking their time. They've gotten to that, guys, and gotten to that part where it's like, oh, do I cross this threshold and drop it down and freeze, or do I just stay above it and stay the way? I am right, we all know that threshold and that's what Toyota is holding out on now. The SUV has very similar features as a century sedan. Now the only difference is Toyota. When they launched it, they launched it with a concept of a GRmn SUV and Toyota is highly considering bringing this out. They feel that they kind of missed on the sedan, and now the sedan is a little bit older. They might want to wait until they update the model before they create the sport one, but the SUV was built with the sport garment style in mind. Now this product may be positioned in the same stable as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Maybach or with Audi Horch, but they're not sold in the same way. 

      Marketing literature does not market as a sign of wealth or opulence. New, it is sold as acquired through persistent work, the only kind done in a plain but formal suit. Toyota is looking at the average person who becomes a millionaire through hard work. You know I'm unlike my past race this weekend with my son. Toyota doesn't want you to be able to throw money to get the best thing ever. This is going to be luxury. No, be able to throw money to get the best thing ever, this is going to be luxury. No, they want to show that this is a vehicle for the equal top tier people. Like you said, old marketing literature doesn't show wealth or opulence, it's not. Oh, you, we want you to dub this out and we want you the chrome and we want this thing to be luxurious. Put it in front of a massive mansion or a huge cat. No, a simple person and a simple suit that worked hard to get that vehicle.
 
      And that's what Toyota, in the century brand or sub-brand, is pushing towards. They want to be Rolls- Royce for the simple person. I know, you know, simple man, but simple person. It essentially runs in the same dialect as base model Rolls Royce and Bentley. So not the Phantom or like the Ghost, not the most, saying more of the continental. Its design influences more towards the Rolls-Royce which, you know, everybody kind of utilizes that. Aurus and Russia use the exact same thing too, but the sedan doesn't use Rolls-Royce. The sedan uses purebred Toyota design.
 
     Now, with the sedan and SUV, Toyota has to think about it. If they want to create a Century brand out of this Toyota want to go after high-end market clientele. Do they want to create a sub-brand of Lexus in North America as the Century models, or do they want to create Century as a dedicated high-end product? Well, as we said, they don't want to show off wealth and opulence with it, which means the American marketplace might be out for the Century product, because they know the American marketplace is all about wealth and opulence and showing off that you're better than your neighbors. Or in Japan, it's more subtle they don't want that You'd be a millionaire driving around a beat-up old Saturn. They don't care, you got there and you get it through hard work. Toyota has to ask himself do they want to make that move? Do they want to make the century brand?
 
      Well, you know Toyota, looking towards doing this, would have to expect to grow it, like we said, it has a sedan and an SUV. You know you got to expand upon that. We get it. The convertible is going to have to become more available. The stretch model is going to be definitely more available, especially in the Chinese market. They like stretching vehicles out. Then you're going to have to look at other things maybe a minivan, maybe a sports car. Remember, all these high-end ones have coupes, convertibles, grand touring product. You got to look at a two-door fun vehicle too, as you said sedan, SUV, convertible, coupe, sports car. And if you want to compete against the main competitors Hongqi, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aurus, Lucid and now the brand-new Cadillac Celestique. Can they do this? Well, they can. 

      In their home market, in Japan and possibly China, they could build the Century brand. After that, the Middle East, India and Australia would be right up their alley. You have to remember you don't have to change much when you're settling into Australia or India because they drive on the same side Japan. After that, the European marketplace would be a good place to go and North America would be last. Why would Western society be last for Toyota to try and push the century model out? Because, like they said, they don't want to build this off of wealth and opulence. They want to build it off of quality and hard work. They want to show people that this thing means you made it, not you bought it. So, really, should this brand come out? Possibly, in the end, the Toyota Century is just an amazing sub-branded product from Toyota Motor Corporation. Yes, on our site we don't have a dedicated website to go towards the Century brand, because the Century brand is essentially part of the Toyota Motor Corporation and it's only available in Japan and China.
 
       Should Toyota grow it? Yes, should they come to very specific marketplaces? Yes, middle East is very good for high-end clienteles. India is a growing place and Toyota is already a big name there. They can grow there. Australia? Well, yeah, Australia loves it. They're still in love with Toyota, maybe not so much if they found out that Toyota is the reason why their automotive industry completely collapsed there, because when they left, ford and GM followed really quickly because the parts suppliers just jacked up the rates because there was only two car companies left Right. So maybe not so much, but it is still the same market for the same hand driving North America tread lately.
 
       We say we like these luxurious vehicles. We say we like these luxurious vehicles, but unless you have that wealth and opulence behind its royalty making you better than everyone else it might take a long time to kind of push the market through. Look how long it took for Lexus to be seen in North America marketplace as a top-tier luxury brand competing with the likes of Cadillac, Lincoln, BMW, Audi and Mercedes. Hell. Jaguar as well Took a long time. So, take their time, grow it and build the Century into its own brand, I figure by 2037, almost 70 years after the original product was created. Maybe by then start thinking about more global domination for the Century brand.
 
      And one last little note the Century GT45 was a gas turbine and electric motor was shown in concept form in the 1975 Tokyo Auto Show in its first-generation product. It was a gas turbine hybrid concept, essentially showing what was going to come out in the 2000s when Toyota put that hybrid V8 underneath the hood. Yeah, 1975, Toyota showcased the technology that was eventually going to adorn this car pretty cool. So, yes, the century brand should become one of its own. Toyota should really get start considering making it its own brand. And if they're not going to do it that way, then create a premiere brand utilizing the crown nameplate for it as well. If not, well then. Just stick with what you're doing, because you're still doing it good. All I know is I would like to have one of these Toyota Century's in my neck of the woods out in Canada, but let's just do a special import. I’m not getting one. Oh well, I can still pick up a Buick Century. 

​       So, if you like this podcast we'd like share. Comment about it on any friends, tell your family, tell your co-workers. Send this out to all your friends, your family, co-workers, well-wishers. Tell them about some of the great products that Toyota has made over the past. The century brand was an amazing thing. You got to see it to believe it and to understand what Toyota has actually built for the marketplace. So, stop by, take a listen, go to the website. Read some of the reviews, check out some of the ratings. Go to the corporate links website page. Find out all that information. After you've dropped this line, like I said, leave us a comment, like us, share us, post about it. We don't care, just get the word out, tell people about the Toyota century and this amazing product and then tell them to go over the auto looks podcast and listen to the story behind the Toyota century product.
 
      The AutoLooks Podcast is brought to you by Ecomm Entertainment Group and distributed by PodBean.com. If you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email over at email at AutoLooks.net. So, like I said before, my name's Everett Jay, the doctor to the automotive industry. I am the host owner and curator of everything that is either AutoLooks, AutoLooks.net or the AutoLooks Podcast. I'd like to give a big thank out to PodBean.com for getting this podcast out into the world and Ecomm Entertainment for keeping us going. So, for myself, Everett Jay, strap yourself in for this one comfortable ride that Toyota Century is going to take us on. 

​Everett J.