In Japan, the Toyota Crown is the king of sedans. It might not be the biggest selling four-door over there, but it remains an aspirational car in its home market. One that’s still considered a benchmark in the luxury segment.
No matter where you go, you’re bound to see one of these on the road, and we’re not just talking about the taxi version, either. Toyota definitely stirred the pot when it introduced the Crown Crossover last year, incorporating elements of a crossover and a sedan all in one body.
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The Crown Crossover has been an interesting gamble for Toyota and a fairly successful one given it was a fairly common sight in Japan. But for those who still prefer the Crown in a more traditional flavor, Japan’s largest automaker has finally revealed the production version of the sedan, months after the final prototype.
Mind you, it is perhaps the most radical change the Crown Sedan has received in years. Following the swoop shape of the outgoing model, the 2024 version kicks it up a notch with more concept-like styling inside and out. And yes, that’s the model you’ll see sitting in Japanese Toyota showrooms soon. Wild, right?
The 2024 Toyota Crown Sedan adapts a more fastback-like body that was first seen in the outgoing model. Its slim LED headlights put the focus on the large center air intake and its angular front end design. For its sides, Toyota kept it clean with not much in the way of hard angles and deep character lines. As for the rear, it gives the illusion of a lift back (like the Corona from the late ‘70s), but that short deck is actually a trunk lid. The 2024 Crown Sedan is the biggest one yet, measuring 5,030mm long, 1,890mm wide, and 1,470mm tall.
If it wasn’t for the Crown insignia on the steering wheel, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the interior for a Lexus model. Then again, the Crown has always been a cut above standard Toyota models, so there’s no surprises here. It’s all about smooth, flowing lines in there from its dashboard to the door panels. It could be said that there are no polarizing design details in there, and it’s safe to say that you could expect nothing but premium-feeling materials in there.
Oh, and we’re glad to see that Toyota has resisted the urge to shove all vehicle functions in the touchscreen. Instead, it has a panel just below the air-conditioning vents for climate control and physical buttons on the center console. To other automakers, not everything has to be infotainment system with some functions buried underneath several sub-menus.
No more V6 or turbo-petrols here. From now on, the Crown Sedan is strictly electrified. The base model is a newly developed 2.5-liter multi-stage hybrid system. There are no official power figures yet, but it’s likely similar to the Crown Crossover or Alphard’s setup. If so, we might be looking at a combined output of around 235hp to 250hp, depending on the tune.
More interesting is the second powertrain option, a hydrogen fuel cell system (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle or FCEV). Toyota still wants to make hydrogen power a mainstream and viable option, and putting in the Crown has made that message clear. It uses he same high-performance fuel-cell system as the Mirai with three high-pressure hydrogen tanks and fuel cells. Toyota claims a range of 820 kilometers per three-minute hydrogen refill.
Any chances this will reach the Philippines? Probably not as Lexus takes care of the luxury side of Toyota here. Then again, a left-hand drive version was shown in China a few months ago, so it’s possible that we’ll see this model outside of Japan.
