Fifty years after the Toyota Crown left North America, the automaker is brining it back and showed it off at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in September 2022Doug Firby/The Globe and Mail
Auto makers who revive old nameplates are often trying to recapture the romance and sales success of vehicles long since relegated to the wrecking yard.
Sometimes, the strategy works like a dream. Think of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Mini or even the Ford Bronco. The new vehicles have superior technology with enough styling cues to stir sentimental longing in buyers for days of glory past. There are also misses – such as the Dodge Dart or Pontiac GTO.
The old Toyota Crown was withdrawn from North America 50 years ago. That’s longer than the lives of most of its intended buyers. And, thank goodness, the new Crown announced in July and displayed at the recent North American International Auto Show in Detroit bears no resemblance to its gutless and homely great-great grandpappy, or its early descendants last seen on our shores in 1972.
The 2023 Crown is a thing of beauty, with delightful stylistic nods to the name, such as a crown emblem on the grille and steering wheel. It’s aerodynamic, reasonably powerful, roomy and offers a new drive system that promises to be sure-footed, fuel-efficient and fun.
This hybrid-only full-time all-wheel-drive sedan with crossover-inspired styling cues goes on sale this fall as Toyota’s capstone upmarket sedan. It replaces the Avalon, which slunk out of Canada after Toyota sold just 209 units in 2020 and 167 in 2021. The new Crown is expected to fare much better; at its debut in Japan, Toyota president Akio Toyoda projected first-year sales of 200,000 over 40 countries and regions.
But nostalgia? Stephen Beatty, vice-president and corporate secretary of Toyota Canada Inc., said in an email interview that the company was not trying to court sentimentalists from bygone eras.
“We are targeting older millennials and Gen X [35-59],” he said. “Most of them have probably never heard of the Crown before.”
Although not seen in North America for five decades, the Crown has been in continuous production internationally since 1955, when it made its debut as the Toyopet Crown, the company’s first mass-produced passenger vehicle. It appeared in the United States in 1958 and was sold in Canada from 1965 until 1972. Two years after its U.S. debut, exports were suspended because the Crown’s puny 60-horsepower engine wasn’t capable of reaching the speeds needed on American highways.
Seeing the decline of traditional sedans, Beatty said the company set out to rethink and reimagine what a full-size sedan should be.
“We wanted to give customers something that was entirely new,” he said.
Beatty said there is one connection to the old Crown, although it is an abstract one.
“The DNA of ‘innovation and limit-pushing’ that led to the creation of the first independently developed luxury car in the early postwar period has been passed down to successive models of Crowns for the past 67 years,” he said. “The development team thoroughly re-examined what ‘Crown’ is, and as a result of their pursuit of a Crown for a new era, they have created a completely new model.”
As with many near-luxury vehicles, the sedan’s style is understated, yet its technology is impressive. Its acoustic glass, special suspension tuning and enhanced body sealing are designed for a quiet cabin. It is also the first Toyota sedan to use the company’s Hybrid Max powertrain system, although only in its Premium trim level. Hybrid Max forgoes the continuously variable transmission (CVT) in favour of a sportier direct-shift six-speed automatic transmission.
The Crown sits on the company’s widely used GA-K world platform, and perches nearly 10 centimetres higher than the Camry. The sleek fastback covers a massive trunk, with fold-down rear seats for those cargo overload days.
The fastback covers a massive trunk, with fold-down rear seats for more storage space.Doug Firby/The Globe and Mail
The Crown is aerodynamic and offers a new drive system that promises to be fuel-efficient.Doug Firby/The Globe and Mail
Unlike the ill-fated Avalon – kind of a working man’s Lexus – Beatty says of the Crown, “There is no equivalent vehicle in the Lexus lineup.”
The Crown comes in three trim levels – the XLE, Limited, and Platinum – two engine options, and an updated high-output nickel-metal-hydride battery. The lower XLE and Limited trims are powered by a 2.5-litre gasoline engine boosted by twin electric motors that achieve combined city/highway fuel consumption estimated at 6.2 litres per 100 kilometres.
The 2.4-litre turbo-four-cylinder engine in the Platinum trim generates 340 horsepower, with the help of electric boost, and achieves a combined city/highway fuel consumption estimated at 8.4 litres per 100 kilometres. Toyota says the rear wheel eAxle is equipped with a water-cooled electric motor that, in slippery conditions, continuously adjusts the force sent to each of the four wheels.
The XLE offers three drive modes, 19-inch alloy wheels and heated front seats. The multimedia system has a 12.3-inch touch screen and six audio speakers.
The Limited adds multibeam LED headlights, a panoramic roof – which curiously does not open – leather-trimmed seats, an upgraded JBL audio system and additional safety tech features. The interior has three colour options: black, black and chestnut, and macadamia.
In addition to the Hybrid Max powertrain, the Platinum trim adds adaptive suspension, six selectable drive modes and 21-inch machined 10-spoke alloy wheels with black accents. A two-tone paint option provides black paint that extends from the hood to the trunk, paired with one of four colour choices.
The interior features an illuminated control panel below the multimedia screen, with frequently used functions placed on the lower row keyboard switches. The 12.3-inch infotainment screen appears in all models and, naturally, features Toyota’s familiar display that coaches drivers on optimal acceleration for the least fuel consumption.
A 1958 Toyota Toyopet Crown at a museum at Toyota Motor North America’s headquarters in Plano, Texas. This car was Toyota's first entry into the North American market, but it sold very few.Petrina Gentile/The Globe and Mail
Heated front seats are standard at all trim levels and the Limited and Platinum levels add standard ventilated front seats and heated rear seats. Each grade of Crown will come standard with Toyota’s new Audio Multimedia System and Toyota Safety Sense 3.0.
Toyota has yet to let journalists put this car through its paces. But, clearly, it’s a far different beast than its namesake from the days of Led Zeppelin and M*A*S*H.
Prices have not been announced.
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