Last week, Toyota unveiled the Crown elevated sedan, a new model destined for the North American market. The automaker promptly turned around and presented several other models that will bear the Crown name in the global markets. There will four models, to be exact, making up that global Crown lineup.
Besides the Crown sedan-crossover mix that we met last week, the new reveals include a sportier sedan, a compact SUV, and an “estate” car, basically a wagon or almost.
Will some of these be coming to North America? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s not likely we’ll get them all. What’s more, some of these could be marketed under the Lexus banner.
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The sedan
This car is based on the Toyota Mirai (hydrogen), which shares its platform with the Lexus LS. Could we see the return of a GS, in hybrid form only, at the Toyota Crown? Pure speculation, it remains to be seen.
The estate / wagon
The model Toyota pegs as a wagon looks more like a stretched SUV, and that’s part of why it it's difficult to properly assess its future place in the market, given that its dimensions are unknown is uncertain. Is it closer in size to a Toyota Corolla Cross or a Lexus RX? Does it offer two or three rows of seats? For now, we know nothing.
The SUV Sport
Finally, the sportier-looking SUV is clearly the smallest model in the quartet. The vehicle comes across like a coupe-style SUV, something that the NX lineup lacks at Lexus, for example. It's perhaps the best-looking Crown model, so we vote that it should come to the North American market.
That's all we have to go on for now, which is not much. However, it gives us an idea of one of the directions Toyota wants to take in terms of styling, and the change is welcome.
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