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• Toyota Century GRMN

Toyota President Uses Century GRMN As Company Car

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Toyota Century GRMN 11 photos
Photo: Best Car Magazine on Twitter
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As far Toyota is concerned, not even the Lexus LS can be considered equal to the Century. The full-size sedan is the epitome of luxury sedans ever since the original started rolling off the line in 1967, and the third generation follows the trend with more luxury than ever before. It also features plenty of technologies, including hybridization and Helpnet automatic emergency reporting.
What nobody was expecting from such a dignified car, however, is the Century GRMN. Captured by the carparazzi on the public streets of the Land of the Rising Sun, the white-and-black prototype is the company car of none other than Akio Toyoda.

The gentleman who oversees the Japanese automotive group doesn’t appear to be phased by the flashing cameras pointed at the one-off prototype, but then again, it wouldn’t be too implausible to consider this set of circumstances as an elaborate PR stunt.

Gazoo Racing influences abound as far the exterior is concerned, down to the design of the diffuser and blacked-out window trim. BBS wheels, Yokohama Advan Sport tires, bigger brake calipers and discs, lowered suspension, there’s plenty of go-faster paraphernalia to feast your eyes upon.

A carbon-fiber trunklid spoiler and GRMN badging on all four corners of the vehicle are also noticeable, and if you know your Toyota history well, check out the license plate. “1867” isn’t the year Toyota was founded, but when Sakichi Toyoda was born. His son, Kiichiro Toyoda, is the mastermind behind the Japanese automaker, founded in 1937.

Akio Toyoda mentioned Century and GRMN in the same sentence in an interview from October 2017, and as you can tell from the photo gallery, the man was serious about building the Century GRMN. The question is, will Gazoo Racing and Toyota ever put this thing into production alongside the Century GR Sport?

Sales have never been strong for this nameplate, but don’t forget that Toyota plans to paint itself as a sporty brand. For the sake of bringing the point home, the Century GRMN is the ultimate middle finger salute to the naysayers that the automaker could come up with.

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Toyota Century GRMN Akio Toyoda Toyota Century sedan Toyota prototype Gazoo Racing
About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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