The Toyota Crown - while certainly not the crown jewel (wink, wink) of the Japanese automaker's global lineup, has always been about adding a bit of luxury to the mid-size class. Now, it's also about standing out in any crowd through variety.
Born in 1955, the Toyota Crown has always been an up-market offering in the lineup, and the first four generations were also available in North America between 1958 and 1972 before the Corona Mark II replaced them. They continued to thrive elsewhere, and in 2022, Toyota gifted old-school Crown fans in America the new kid on the block of the sixteenth generation, reimagined as a complete reboot of the nameplate – as it were a Hollywood movie franchise.
More precisely, the Crown grew to incorporate more body styles, some of them exclusive to various regions. For example, the format that returned to North America after a hiatus of half a century wasn't the regular Crown Sedan (which is available in Japan, though) but rather a crossover-style variant taking the style of a four-door fastback sedan with subtle high-riding capabilities (S235).
At home in Japan, there's also a Crown Sport five-door crossover (!) along with the classic four-door saloon, but North America is getting for the 2025 model year the Crown Signia, a more family-oriented crossover SUV that debuted late last year alongside the 2025 Camry. Well, after these explanations, you would think that Americans are a bit confused. Well, that's not necessarily true, as Toyota Motor North America reported the first-quarter US sales with best-ever March sales for Crown and triple-digit delivery gains during the first three months of the year.
As such, is anyone surprised that the Japanese automaker chose to update for 2025MY the regular Crown among the first after it took a breather from the rapid-firing 2024 Tacoma, 2024 Land Cruiser, 2024 Tacoma i-Force Max, 2025 Camry, 2025 Crown Signia, and 2025 4Runner? No, we shouldn't be, as the Crown cross-sedan resides in a very quirky situation across the US market. On one hand, there are very few passenger cars left in the mid-size and large segments – Dodge's new Charger is coming next year with EV or inline-six grunt, the Kia K5 was recently updated, plus the Subaru Legacy, Volvo S90, and Lexus ES could represent some adventurous or premium alternatives.
The Germans are there, too, with the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and they offer either a regular sedan or station wagons – soon BMW will unleash the all-new M5 Touring while Mercedes thinks the E-Class All-Terrain is better suited for customer needs. However, neither of them features the quirkiness of Toyota's Crown, which is good for the latter, as there's less competition. It's not even a bad-looking car if you think about past Toyota creations that were so boring you could yawn continuously while trying to drive them. The best thing is that it was recently updated for the 2025MY to get along well with the upcoming 2025 Crown Signia, and we feel that it's a better choice if you don't need a crossover. In fact, I would personally recommend hurrying up and snatching a 2024 Venza if you want the CUV form factor – it costs just $35,070 in base configuration and still comes with an exclusive hybrid powertrain rocking up to 40/37 estimated MPG fuel economy plus five spacious seats.
Anyway, back to the regular 2025 Toyota Crown, the Japanese carmaker wants everyone to know that it "brings even more style and technology," starting at $41,440 (a tad more than 2024MY, of course) for the XLE grade. There are a total of four trim options, so you don't get lost in translation, with the Platinum having the most colors (including exclusive two-tone shades) and most features starting from $54,990. However, if you don't mind that it can only be had in Black (with black leather) or Storm Cloud (a dark shade of blue-grey), the newly available 2025 Crown Nightshade Edition grade rocks the dark and menacing looks featuring exclusive badges, black handles, and 21-inch ten-spoke wheels with a matte-black finish. All Crown models feature standard AWD, which is great for safety and convenience, along with a choice of two hybrid powertrains – the standard Toyota Hybrid System (THS) or the powerful Hybrid MAX reserved for the Platinum, which comes complete with 340 hp and 400 lb-ft. of torque.
On the other hand, the base THS puts fuel economy front and center with an EPA-estimated 41 MPG combined city/highway rating. The available colors are set to cover the spectrum - Black, Oxygen White, Bronze Age, Heavy Metal, Supersonic Red, and Storm Cloud. As we said, the Platinum also gets access to dual-tone ideas, as Oxygen White, Heavy Metal, Supersonic Red, and Bronze Age get paired with black paint for additional contrast. A heated steering wheel and heated and ventilated front seats are standard across all grades. At the same time, Platinum also gets a standard head-up display to make sure customers can use the Crown cross-sedan in any situation. So, are you taking home a 2025 Crown soon or not?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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