Photo: Toyota
Stop me if you've heard this one already. I am, of course, referring to a two-month-old internal document from a Toyota dealership that confirmed the GR Corolla and… wait for it… the Crown. It's not the luxurious four-door sedan that Toyota sells in Japan but an all-new SUV, according to Reuters.
The mystery sport utility vehicle has been confirmed by three people in the know with various levels of electrification. Scheduled to go on sale in the summer of 2023, the Crown will be initially offered with hybrid and plug-in powertrains. The cited publication understands that the hybrid will be sold in the United States while the plug-in hybrid is exclusively JDM.
Fast forward to early 2024, and that’s when the all-electric variant is due, according to Reuters. The Japanese automaker hasn’t finalized export plans for the zero-emission powertrain. Looking at the bigger picture, does Toyota afford to keep the Crown EV away from the American market? In a nutshell, not quite. Especially not when EV sales are surging, and CAFE standards favor a greater mix of cleaner vehicles in the carmaker’s lineup.
Toyota is also expected to overhaul the Crown sedan, but it’s not clear if the company will bring this fellow stateside. Glancing over sedan sales in the U.S. of A. pretty much seals the sedan’s fate in this part of the world.
Introduced as the 1955 Toyopet Crown, the luxurious four-door sedan was updated slowly but steadily over the course of almost seven decades. The latest redesign came in 2018 with the S220, the internal designation for the 15th generation. Based on the GA-L platform of the Mirai, Lexus LS, and LC, the Crown can be had with three engines: a 2.0L turbo, a 2.5L hybrid, as well as the 3.5-liter V6 hybrid shared with the LS 500h and LC 500h.
Fast forward to early 2024, and that’s when the all-electric variant is due, according to Reuters. The Japanese automaker hasn’t finalized export plans for the zero-emission powertrain. Looking at the bigger picture, does Toyota afford to keep the Crown EV away from the American market? In a nutshell, not quite. Especially not when EV sales are surging, and CAFE standards favor a greater mix of cleaner vehicles in the carmaker’s lineup.
Toyota is also expected to overhaul the Crown sedan, but it’s not clear if the company will bring this fellow stateside. Glancing over sedan sales in the U.S. of A. pretty much seals the sedan’s fate in this part of the world.
Introduced as the 1955 Toyopet Crown, the luxurious four-door sedan was updated slowly but steadily over the course of almost seven decades. The latest redesign came in 2018 with the S220, the internal designation for the 15th generation. Based on the GA-L platform of the Mirai, Lexus LS, and LC, the Crown can be had with three engines: a 2.0L turbo, a 2.5L hybrid, as well as the 3.5-liter V6 hybrid shared with the LS 500h and LC 500h.
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