Toyota Crown

Episode: 0280
History of the Toyota Crown sub-Brand.

     Did you know that the Toyota Crown has been a staple of luxury since 1955? This iconic vehicle is not just a car; it's a symbol of status in Japan! From serving as police cars to government transport, it’s truly the crown jewel of the automotive world.  

     In all reality, you don't need to be a royal to have one. Maybe you have to be a royal to wear one. No, a real one. But in all reality, if you live in Japan, you don't have to be a royal to own one. The Toyota Crown, a brand that's been around since the year my father was born in 1955. The Crown, stands atop a pinnacle for premium products for the Toyota brand. But where can it go from here?
 
     Seeing how they moved the Century nameplate onto its own actual product mark this past year in 2025, Crown could be the next one. Or is the Crown just going to take off for the Avalon once left us in North America? Well, today, AutoLooks is going to be taking a look at this Crown jewel of the Toyota manufacturing group's production line, the Crown product.

      Welcome back to the AutoLooks Podcast I am your host as always to 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. That is the AutoLooks.net website. 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 [email protected].
 
     So, like I said in the intro, the Crown Toyota has actually worn the crown for a long time. The Crown is not only a product, but is also used as a symbol. The Supra has its own crown as well as being the king of the sports car industry in Japan. Well, not essentially the reigning king. We got to give that up to Godzilla himself, the GTR. But the Supra wears a Crown and like it. Toyota also has a crown jewel in its midst the Crown product has been around since 1955. It's basically been used as police cars, taxi cabs, and government transportation, and mostly used as a taxi in Japan until the Comfort product came out in 1995. 40 years of standard taxi approval. Besides that, police cars and government transportation, it really wasn't a private sale vehicle. It was the top tier of Toyota's luxury brand.
 
     Yeah, the Century set itself out on its own course, but the Crown sat atop the Toyota stable and being that it was dedicated to more transportation government officials and government employees, the Crown became the pinnacle of luxury within the standard product range of Toyota itself. Having competition from the Nissan Cedric and Gloria, the Honda Legend, the Mazda Luce, the Isuzu Bellil, or even the Mitsubishi Debonair. Toyota has had a few competitors along the route. And during its time, until the arrival of the Lexus LS in 1989, what's essentially used the crown jewels of technology and information from the Crown product from the Toyota stable. 

​       Until that arrival in 1989, the Crown sat atop the Toyota Spear. It is Toyota's second longest running nameplate behind the Land Cruiser. And the seventh longest running nameplate in the entire world. Yeah. The Crown has been around for a long time. And even though in North America, we're just starting to see it two years ago in 2023 with the arrival of the Crown sedan, the Crown wagon, the sport wagon, and even now the Crown Signia SUV or crossover utility vehicles. I'll call them. The Crown brand was never really here. We had the Avalon from the 80s into the 90s and up until the early 2000s. In 1989, we had the arrival of the Lexus series. But you have to remember, Japan is a completely different market. If you go back and listen to our Podcast about Mazda's luxury brand, that they tried to create in North America, essentially just used Mazda products from Japan. Lexus was doing that as well, utilizing more luxury tier of Toyota products from Japan for its own product stable. How the LS designed and built on its own, but utilized all of the same features, engines, and products that the Crown already possess. And this is from a great long living product. The second longest in Toyota's nameplate after Land Cruiser and the seventh longest in the world from 1955 all the way up till today. The Crown brand is still around. But with that, let's go back and take a look at where the Crown came from.
 
     It started life in 1955 as the Toyopet Crown. Remember, that Toyopet is not a full division Toyota yet. The first generation ran from 1955 until 1962 added a point 1.5-liter type R engine. It really wasn't for private sales, essentially for government officials with only its master sibling used for taxi services and the master line for commercial usage. It had wagon and van styles, but it also had the Crown Deluxe brought in as the first posh model during its timeframe for government officials. You remember, this was the vehicle built for taxis, commercial use, and even police vehicles near its original inception. But then Toyota saw that it can also be used for luxury officials. This essentially was until the Century came out and took its title away.
 
    It used a coil and double wishbone independent suspension and had suicide rear doors before the Lincoln Continental. Yeah, Toyota was there before Lincoln was, but we all know suicide doors were heavily used and even the American marketplace between the twenties and thirties for most standard vehicles even had suicide doors. But this being the crown jewel in the Toyota lineup, suicide doors were right there. The luxury aspect it essentially what was called the baby Cadillac.
 
     Even though it wasn't sold in North America yet, it was still referred to as a baby Cadillac for the Japanese market. 30 Crown Deluxes were sent from June 1958 to the United States, which essentially where that baby Cadillac nameplate came from. So yes, in the United States, there are 30 Crown Deluxe models from 1958 on your shores. And if they're still there, they're going to bring in some hefty value for you being the very first Crown product available to North American marketplace. And one of the early Toyota products ever available in North America going head-to-head with Cadillac in a smaller form. You have to remember Toyota didn't build big vehicles like those big burly V8s that we saw from Cadillac Lincoln and Chrysler back in the 1950s. But unfortunately, because Japan doesn't have big major interstates at this point in time. Remember, it's the 50s. The interstate is just starting to materialize. The interstates essentially are what killed it because it couldn't maintain interstate speeds. Yes, it was a big burly beast from Japan, but it couldn't maintain the same speeds as North American products on the brand-new developed interstate system. 

       1962, the second generation came upon us. This one only lasting five years from 62 to 67. It was introduced to complement the brand-new Corona sedan in North America, the largest and luxurious version of the two. Its stylized Crown badge on the grill and hubcaps set it apart from the standard Corona at that point in time. Utilizing an X frame to achieve a lower center of gravity. This vehicle handled like a cloud similar to that of Chrysler Imperials at that point in time. It only came as both a sedan and wagon.
 
       It had the Crown master line for commercial use a cube utility, a double cab utility, and even a van system. Yes. Crowns came as trucks back in the early days, crossover utility trucks. It also had the Crown S which included a sport camshaft instrumentation suspension and a two-liter inline six engine trying to go after that brand new sport luxury appeal in the North American marketplace.
 
       This became the first Toyota exported to Europe in 1963. Yes, the Crown beat the initial Corona to the American marketplace where the Corona became the first mass produced vehicle sold in the American marketplace. The Crown came to compliment it, but the Crown also became the first Toyota ever exported to the European marketplace. So, if you have a Crown from those early days, hold on to it. That bad boy is worth a pretty penny or in this case quid.
 
       So that'd be what a few quid for you if you're talking about the UK. Now, 1963 Tokyo Motor Show displayed a convertible version of the Crown. Unfortunately, it was never released. Similar to the convertible version of the Toyota 2000 Toyota never got into building these things. So, a convertible version of a 63 Crown sedan only exists as an aftermarket creation. It never was produced.
 
      So, if you have one double check that it's not the original concept from the Tokyo Motor Show in 1963. Now from 1964 to 1967, essentially the first luxury purpose built it's the third generation of the sedan, but technically the first generation of a luxury purpose. the first luxury purpose-built Crown came out in 1964, used an upmarket Crown eight with a 2.6-liter V eight engine.
 
     It was first branded as a Toyota, not a Toyopet. Now to remember Toyopet was kind of like we said, in our "Disposable Vehicles" Podcast. Toyopet was the original throwaway vehicle from Toyota. Toyota became more of its bread-and-butter vehicles. And the Crown first became branded in 1964 as a Toyota, not a Toyopet. It was designed to replace the full-size American cars used by corporations. So, Japan was getting sick and tired of their corporate dignitaries and government officials rolling around in American made vehicles kind of sound familiar, you know, kind of like Aurus luxury from Russia. Yeah, they get tired of running around these big American vehicles. And it was the first mass produced vehicle with a V8 engine from Japan as well. Its competition at the time became the Prince Grand Gloria, the Mitsubishi Debonair and the Nissan Cedric special, which only had six-cylinder engines. This being the first luxury variation coming out between 64 and 67.

​         While the 1962 to 67 crowns were still for sale, the luxury version finally appeared. Eventually was replaced in 67 by the Century VG20. Yes, the Century nameplate has finally come and is taken over for where the luxury Crown was. So, for three years during the 60s, Crown was essentially the Crown title of the Toyota lineup until the arrival of the Century sedan Toyota realized they needed something else to be built specifically for the corporate and high dignitary government officials only. And they did that with the Century from 1967 to 1971, the third generation of the actual Crown sedan came out, they finally used a perimeter frame in place of its X frame trying to reduce some weight and get a little bit better fuel consumption. Because you have to remember, this is Japan, they don't have their own oil.
 
       They got to import it. They're trying to save on spending all that money. This chassis built in 1967 would carry the Crown all the way until 1999. That's quite a distance. Over 32 years, the Crown would run on the exact same perimeter frame chassis. But if you remember from 1955 until 1967, it ran on the original X frame. So, Toyota realizes when they get something right, don't fuck with it. Just leave it alone.
 
       At this point in time, they use the two liter or 2.3 liter two ⁓ engine. Now the 2.3 liter two was also shared with the 2000 GT sports car, the other vehicle which had a convertible version made but never produced. Now that was made for the James Bond movie. "You Only Live Twice" where if you've seen the movie and listen to our Podcast about James Bond cars, you understand this thing was purposely built for the movie. They thought they would have got a lot of interest in it because you know, James Bond being a big franchise at that point in time.
 
       But unfortunately, it didn't, it didn't garner enough, enough interest. So, Toyota decided to scrap the whole idea. So, no convertible 2000 GT, no convertible Crowns. Now it came as the super saloon, but it was also joined by the super deluxe trim top tier sitting just below where the brand-new Century nameplate was. Now the master nine nameplate was dropped in favor of the only Crown name ever for commercial products. So now the Crown is a luxury vehicle. It's cabs. It's police. It's government.
 
      It's not something you move flowers and dirt in anymore. No, the Crown is moving up. And in the movie, Satoshi Yamada from Tora Tora Tora would become the spokesperson for the Crown brand for the next 16 years starting 1967. Yeah, that movie he would push it out and make it so that the Crown would be known of as a luxury product at this point in time during the third generation.

       The sedan, the four-door wagon, the van, the pickup, the double cab pickup, the Crown S and the 1968 two-door hardtop personal luxury car, as they called it, would be the only products available. Now, I say that's the only products available. You can make an entire corporation out of the products that were available at that point in time. It had a product in every single part of the marketplace at that point in time. And remember, sedan, wagon, truck, double cab, truck, commercial van, and even a coupe.
 
     Yeah, it was there except for the one thing that kept eluding the Crown. A convertible. Now, why don't they want to create a convertible? You know, that's Toyota on that question. They really want to want to answer our questions on it. They said it was too expensive and there wasn't a lot of interest in convertibles, but it was there. 1971 to 1974, three years only the fourth generation arrived being sedan, wagon, van, or a two-door hardtop. Yes, the hardtop is here to stay now.
 
        It was dropped from the American marketplace and replaced with the Corona Mark II. So yes, by 1971, the Crown is no longer available in America. The baby Cadillac is gone. Cadillac can finally sigh some relief that it no longer has to compete with a Japanese luxury product. It only has to deal with its own American counterparts from both Chrysler Corporation and the Ford Motor Company with Lincoln and Chrysler. At this point in time, Imperial was still kicking about.
 
     Essentially, they had more luxury, but didn't need the Toyota one. They had the Corona Mark II, but essentially that's just what would eventually become the Camry. It was the first to be marketed worldwide as the Toyota Crown product.
 
        And for the Japanese market, a Tudor featured halogen headlamps in the 70s. So, if you thought that Audi made that breakthrough in the early 2000s with halogen headlamps, get your head out of your ass, do a little research, try to beat them to the punch with the original Crown fourth generation between 71 and 74 with a Tudor coupe having one of the first halogen headlamps in history. Really cool. And I'm glad we found out about that.  It finally included a separate radio seeking feature and remote truck for tuning the ignition key to the far left. So yeah, even though they pulled it from America, you can now drive it in our marketplaces. 

​        The fifth generation appeared from October, 1974 to August, 1979. It was the sedan, a pillared hardtop, hardtop sedan, a wagon, a coupe and a van this time. And it also included a 2.2-liter diesel was introduced in 1977. Yes, we still had the van and it still had somewhat of a commercial sale for the standard Crown product. It's trim featured standard deluxe, super saloon and Royal saloon sitting just below the Century product range. But by this time, the VA had been dropped from all the models. No longer was the VA needed because now it's being sold in Asian marketplaces and the American marketplace needed a VA, especially during the 1960s and 70s when that's all the market really wanted big powerful V8s, especially when you're thinking of premium and luxury products in the American marketplace. We had oil galore. We didn't have to worry about that. Well, by this time we did because the oil embargo was coming in and Toyota was starting to break grounds in America. It also was the introduction of the disc brakes, both for upfront and in the rear. All previous cars had front disc brakes, but didn't have them in the rear. They still use drums. So, 1974 discs all around on the Toyota Crown product.
 
        1979, the sixth generation bowed in this one went from 79 to 83. year 83 held a sedan, a hardtop sedan, a wagon, a coupe and a van, no trucks. The truck was gone. It was still used as a commercial van or taxi and could be easily found by their round lights and all other models had square or rectangular lights. So commercial was being separated out from the Crown product. So, Crown commercial vehicles existed, but they wanted to separate them from the standard Crown sedans, pillared sedans and wagons. They didn't want the regular consumers to know that they're getting dirt delivered to their house in a Crown van that comes from the same sedan that they're driving.
 
       They needed to differentiate the two of them from each other. A new turbocharged two-liter engine was offered in Japan only in 1980 with the last generation to have a four-cylinder engine. Four cylinders were all becoming the rage even in the tuning world by the late seventies and into the early eighties. But the Crown was supposed to be a premium luxury product. Even in the Japanese marketplace, 8 cylinders meant premium. Four cylinder meant entry level. Even in their marketplace, the four cylinder was being kicked to the curb.
 
       In 1980, Germany saw the first model ever sold of the Toyota Crown product. 1980, as you remember, a lot of other European countries had these in the back in the 60s. America had it back in the late 50s. Germany, 1980. This is before the fall of the Berlin Wall. West Germany got the Toyota Crowns. It was the last generation for the Tudor hardtop. It was replaced by the Toyota Soarer.
 
      During the 1980s. The coupe was still fitted with a vinyl roof and opera windows from the 1970s. So still give a little bit more luxury appeal to it. And its extra options, electronic compass and a moon roof could be had in their products because you have to remember, it was still a premium product range from Toyota. In 1982, a 2.4-liter diesel engine appeared. Yeah, this may be a premium and luxury product, but we still want diesel in it because diesel gets better fuel mileage in the European marketplace than an internal combustion engine that runs on petrol. The European Union loved diesel and Japan was starting to see an influence in diesel vehicles as well. Now this would only run into the late 90s. They finally realized that diesel was creating more emissions that standard petrol.

       The end of 1983, the seventh generation came upon us running from 83 to 87 a pillared hardtop, sedan, wagon and a van were now available. Gone were the coupe, gone were the truck. These models were the first to be introduced with a liquid petroleum gas four-cylinder engine. Yeah, we said the original four cylinder was gone. So no longer was a standard petrol four cylinder. An LPG powered four cylinder was here for commercial sales to save on money for intercity travel. They were always thinking about the pocketbooks of the contractors driving the Crown. Its extras now included a dash mounted CD player.
 
       Yes, the CD player is out. Sony is making waves in with CDs and it made it into the Crown product as an extra feature a shelf mounted fridge for the commercial driver on the move and a seat memory feature. Yeah, we all want to get into our vehicle, push the button and make sure that our seat moves to the proper locations. We're not the self adjust every single time we're getting in the vehicle after your wife. Trust me, I don't want to drive like you know, why woman you ever watch The Simpsons you know exactly what I'm talking about.
 
      It's like one of my favorite bits that I always use every time I in the car. I get in the car, look at my kids. I'm like, look, look, look kids. Guess what I am. Sitting at mum's seat and I push it back and I'm like, do doo, they laugh at it. They're like, it's so true, dad. It's so true. Yeah. You don't want to, don't want to be sitting next to the front windshield. Unfortunately, the seventh generation would leave the European marketplace and enter other select Asian marketplaces. So, the Crown was no longer there, but there was a reason for that, Crown wasn't leaving Europe was essentially getting replaced in Europe. That eighth generation was upon us. 

      The sedan from 87 to 2000, a pillared hardtop sedan from 87 to 91 and the wagon and commercial van from 87 to 1999. They also have a 1997, special Toyota classic to fall into the lineup of the Crown sedan, but to fall into the lineup of their premium product range. A two-liter 2400 CC single overhead cam turbo diesel with a manual to take on the Golf GTI was included with its eighth generation. Along with that, a four-liter V8, the same engine to be used in the Lexus LS would soon become the main engine of the Crown Majesta model. By 1998, the Crown became the first Toyota available with an airbag. And at this point in time, the Crown shared design cues with the Toyota Cressida or later Camry in a lot of world marketplaces.

       1989 the top-level Royal Saloon G was introduced and included the world's first CD-ROM based automatic navigation system with a color CRT display. Yes, a crystal television display was available in top tier Royal seat saloons from the Crown sub brand. Toyota was going after luxury. And even though Lexus was only available in Canada, the US and Mexico and other parts of the world, the Crown reigned king for the Toyota brand. Because as we all know, at this point in time, the Century brand was still limited on sales as Century products were essentially built specifically for the Japanese marketplace where Crown was moving into a global luxury dominance, followed beside it with Lexus in America. It came with a comfort ride thanks to an electronically controlled shock absorber. This was borrowed from the Crown coupe or as it was now called the Toyota Soarer. Yes, the Toyota Soarer essentially was the Crown coupe. They decided to split the two out knowing that coupe market was exploding all over the world and in a longer ride to Crown coupe, they wanted a sports coupe model. See it the Crown model kept the coupe profile it would have been just a coupe product like the Camry coupe, but separating it out as the Soarer made it a sports coupe model on its own dedicated product range. Similar to that of the Honda Prelude. Where the Prelude is a sports coupe and the Accord coupe is a sedan coupe accessory, where the Prelude is a sport coupe model built off a similar platform as a dedicated coupe model. 

​        By now the Crown model was also sold in Japan, the Middle East, the Caribbean and select Asian marketplaces. You have to remember it was void of all American sale. Why? Well, at this point in time, we had the Avalon we didn't care about that. And we had the Lexus product. So, we didn't need the Crown, did we? The eighth generation did receive a facelift in 1991. So, from 91 to 2000, essentially around the time that the pillared hardtop sedan and the wagon and commercial vans disappeared or started disappearing. Its facelift came into play and it came into play for the sedan wagon and van models as the pillared hardtop was now dropped. Now the previous S 130 hardtop model would become the ninth generation with the facelift becoming the S 140 model. The facelift still uses the S 130 series platform, but since it was a facelift, they utilize the new layout name frame.
 
       The S a diesel engine was basically used for all taxi models to save on fuel for them. And by October, 1991, the Crown Royal saloon became an exclusive car. So, this was no longer a dedicated dealership vehicle, it was very exclusive. Just like Century products, the Crown Royal was only available to a select view in 1993. Great Wall Motors was caught building an unlicensed clone of the S 130 under the C 1020 S nameplate. They also made a wagon and crew cab variants. You have to remember in the late nineties, Great Wall Motors and China wants to pick up where Japan is and they don't want the Japanese taking over their marketplace. So, they're now getting into bed with a lot of them, but they're also building a lot of them from 1991 to 1995. The ninth generation was upon us was that pillared hardtop sedan, the Crown Majesta or Lexus GS model. It's trims the super select super saloon, extra royal touring, Royal saloon and Royal saloon G with the Royal G kept all of the luxury options from the previous generation. Now a new curved styling was used to bring the Crown into the future and influenced by the Celsior's clean flowing style that had been created. 1993 saw a facelift back to the S130 rear design.

      The 10th generation upon us came in 1995 to 2001. This was the sedan hard top box styling back and was the first Crown to use unibody construction, which was first introduced on the 140 Majesta. Previous to this is hard top trims included the Royal Extra, Royal Saloon, Royal Saloon G and the Royal Touring sedan trims. Super Deluxe, Super Saloon, Super Saloon, Extra and the Royal Saloon with the wagon retained the S30 chassis until 1999. All wheel drive came as the Royal Extra and Royal Saloon models and the S1 Crown would be the last manual transmission Crown in existence. From 1995 to 2018, the Crown Comfort sedan had its mild update. So, the Crown was starting to move out. They had the Comfort sedan, they had the Majesta's, they had the Royals.
 
      Crown was getting bigger and becoming its own sub brand at the Toyota names plate. But why? Well, luxury was becoming big. The market was rebounding during the nineties in Japan and everybody was looking for ways to exploit these new sales. Cause the fact was that not everybody wanted to get into public transit yet. Cars were still big news. The Crown comfort sedan came as the first midsize sedan for fleet buyers’ taxi and used as a Toyota Mark 2 platform from the Cressida. The comfort sedan had a shorter wheelbase.
 
     But the Crown comfort sedan had a larger wheelbase used for taxis and takeaway from the standard Crown models. He the standard deluxe, the SG, the super deluxe and super saloon. And it also had between 2003 and 2004 sold 59 units only the TRD comfort GTZ supercharger was added to the Crown comfort sedan. Yes, 59 units. It was an inline four fitted with an overhead valve TX07 Supercharger. It became the first addition to the Crown sub-brand of vehicles. Crown was moving. The 11th generation dawned upon us between 1999 and 2000. The van 99 to 2003, and the wagon, 99 to 2007. It used shorter front overhangs for increased interior and trunk space. Majesta's shared the 170 chassis, but the larger with distinctive styling, not of a Crown. The hardtop was gone and no left-hand option, only for right-hand drive. And the estate was the only new wagon model since the 130 series of the eighth generation coming in the late eighties. Toyota up-fitted this, the 11th generation with the Toyota electronic modulated suspension added for extra comfort. Cause the Crown was now moving into premium territory. It was the Lexus of the Japanese marketplace without Lexus being there. Now Lexus had tried, but the Japanese still weren't into luxury branded Toyota products yet. 

      The 12th generation came in from 2003 to 2008. Based on the Zero Crown concept car show, the Tokyo Motor Show, it came only as a sedan. It did introduce the return of the Crown Majesta as the top tier model with both the Royal, the Athlete and the Majesta products. Now the Royal Athlete used a V6 engine while the Majesta was the only one available with the V8. Now the VA had an optional four-wheel drive for better performance and fuel economy than the past models. This gave it an edge over the competition.
 
       By 2001, we saw the introduction of left-hand models knowing that America can use the Crown. They started being sold as the Lexus GS in North America. The Lexus GS at this point in time or the Crown had more interior space than an S class and a 7-Series. And with both six and eight, it was competing in a direct line with the European luxury Kings. Lexus was here and Crown was making it happen.
 
     By 2008, the 13th generation came out. Again, sedans only, no more vans, no more wagons, no more trucks, sedan, you had the royal as the luxury product, the Athlete as a sport and the Majesta as the top tier. But you also had the introduction of the brand-new Crown hybrid. With the release of the Prius Toyota was still looking at hybrid technology for a lot of their vehicles and the Crown being a crown jewel. They wanted fuel savings as well because corporate dignitaries in Japanese marketplace like to save money. Unlike American counterparts who just want big burly V10s, V12s, V8s and the Rolls Royce and Bentley's, Japanese marketplace wants to save money. Hybrids are a big thing. Plus, the government is really starting to push on fuel savings as well. It was one of the first vehicles with navigation and artificial intelligence for adaptive variable suspension system and a 3D satellite NAV system. This thing is top line beating out marks like, Cadillac, Mercedes and even Audi to the marketplace with technology like this. The system can adjust the damper firmness for corners based on a map data and change transmission shift timings and engine braking knowing about those fun back roads they have in the Japan mountains. The Crown will become the ultimate touring luxury sedan. Oh yeah, this thing was smooth. was amazing and comfortable like riding around on a big comfy couch.
 
     It was the first Toyota with an active noise control in the world's first collision avoidance system with front side wave radio to detect potential side collisions. The latest version tilts the rear seat upward, placing the passenger in more of an ideal crash position. And this was used to ensure the vehicle decelerating properly. So, it kept you safer than the competition.
 
      A pedestrian detection for night vision, which displays people on an LCD screen in front of the driver was also available along with driver monitoring systems, detect if you're awake and works even with sunglasses. So, you couldn't avoid this system. And the Crown in 2009 introduced the world's first center airbag. Yes, the Crown was there pushing technology to its limit while in America, we still just got standard Lexus products. How stupid are we?

​      In December 2012, the 14th generation of the Crown comes around from December 2012 to June 2018 the sedan only with brand new styling for the Royal series comes out. Now the new Royal series pays homage to the fifth generation series of its design utilizing previous generation design elements, a special pink rose edition released in September 2013 received 650 orders for the first month of its sale. It's still a very rare site to find special pink rose edition pink rose, lotus flowers and peach blossoms. Okay, amazing. It's a very rare site and holds its value well. Now it came as a front wheel drive and four-wheel drive versions only, but still available with the V8 and hybrid V8. 

       Now from June 2018 to June 2022, the 15th generation comes out. It's a sedan layout front wheel drive and four-wheel drive variations only. It is now called the S220 Crown chosen for the government of Indonesia state officials transportation. So, Indonesia is now using it for state officials, not just Japan. The 15th generation comes in and showcases to the world. Crown is here and Crown is still a top tier luxury vehicle.  It also sets a design precedence for the brand new Mirai. In July 22, July 2022, we finally get to see the 16th generation, the one that still exists today, going back to its roots, not full roots, is sedan, a wagon crossover wagon, Signia CUV, Crosstrek sedan, Crosstrek sport wagon, and a fuel cell sedan come out along with a brand-new Highlander CUV as the Crown Kluger.
 
      Crown has now moved into its own dedicated sub brand in a lot of global marketplaces where Lexus isn't available. The Crown brand is Toyota now has its own premium lineup with the Crown brand. Even in North America, we still get the sedan, the wagon, the sport wagon, the crossover wagon, we even get the cross-trek sedan and cross trek wagon along with the fuel cell sedan and very select markets because they're really starting to promote it. A gasoline hybrid system is standard for all production with a fuel cell added in. This becomes the dedicated replacement for all Avalon models anywhere in the world. Crown is now the new premium product for the Toyota stable, and it becomes the standard use for the second generation Mirai platform. Yes, the Crown is there and the Crown is growing. It's premium market product, where Lexus is luxury, Century is high end and Toyota stands between standard and premium. And with Chinese marketplace demanding more premium products, Toyota needs to expand and Crown is right there introducing the Kluger, the Highlander CUV and the Velfire van as Crown products and hell even the comfort entry level sedan from 1995 to 2018. Crown has been trying to break itself out from the Toyota nameplate for decades. But will Toyota do it? 

      Now we've all seen as Century became the new high-end brand for the Toyota marketplace. And now that I'm thinking of bringing GR out into its own sports car division, Toyota is expanding multitude of different divisions. Even though they have partnership deals with Suzuki, they own Daihatsu and Subaru as well. Toyota still wants to go from entry level to standard product range with the Crown and the premium product range, Lexus and the luxury product range and Century and high end with GR coming in with sports car brands.


      Yes, Toyota wants to emulate what General Motors once held. They want divisions in every select market out there and Crown may not be there just yet, but the Crown product stable is moving in the direction of becoming its own brand. Hell, it even has its own logo. Even the brand-new Crown products you find in North America come with the Crown logo instead of the Toyota logo on the front of them. You don't get the Toyota logo, you know, the weird looking T thing. You don't get that as a logo on any of the Crown products in North America. You get the Crown logo. So even here, where it once existed, it is now a dedicated sub brand soon to become a dedicated brand. Before too long, your Toyota dealership where it once had Toyota, Lexus and Scion is eventually going to have Toyota, Lexus, Crown, Century, and GR on the sign. Where can it go? It can only grow as the market demands more premium features. Now, the only thing we have to ask Toyota is if they're going to bring Crown into the premium marketplace to go head-to-head with companies like Buick and Chrysler and hell even Acura. Are they going to bring back the Scion nameplate to enter the economy entry level stable as well? Or are we just going to hold off and see how the market plays out between the fight between hybrid and electric? Let Crown be crowned the ultimate in premium only time will tell.

     So, if you like this Podcast, we'd like to share a comment about any major social feed streaming sites you found the AutoLooks Podcast like us, share us comment about us. Tell us what you like about the Crown product. Tell us what you think of the Toyota Crown product. What do you love most about it? We get it once was a Toyopet. Now it's a Toyota and do you love the fact that it's changed its name? Do you love the fact that it became, you know, gone from a standard product range? In the economy premium field into the standard product into the premium and now into a premium luxury nameplate should Toyota bring it out as its own premium nameplate even in North America have the Crown logo right there sitting above your Toyota logo at the Toyota dealership or should they do that? Let us know in the comments below like share us comment about us follow us for God sakes find out more from this and go back to our website, go back to our Podcast page and find out more from the AutoLooks Podcast, big or small we have them all car companies from around the globe, all available on the AutoLooks.net website, plus images about this car and car company from the AutoLooks.net website. And after that stuff by the website, like we said, read some of the reviews, check us on the race, go to the corporate links website page, send us an email, join our mailing list, all available right there. Send this out to your friends and your family, your well wishers, ask them, do they perform the Crown or do they want the Avalon to come back? Send us an email at the bottom.


      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 to [email protected]. So, for myself Everett Jay, the Ecomm Entertainment Group and Podbean.com, strap yourself in for this one fun, comfortable ride that the Crown product range is going to take us on.

Everett J.
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