Toyota's New Century Coupe Targets Rolls-Royce and Bentley
TOKYO—Toyota's long-standing flagship model is spreading its wings and becoming a whole brand with a new, ultra-exclusive coupe.
It's not often you get to witness the birth of a whole new automotive brand. Yet in Tokyo Big Sight's West Hall on Wednesday morning, we saw the in-person debut of Century, a super-high-end brand sitting above Lexus and meant to take on the world's elite brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley.
Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda was on hand to introduce this first standalone Century to the world. Ostensibly a coupe, the Century takes the existing SUV's quad-headlight face and applies it to a long, low, classically-proportioned shape. The ride height is generous, yet this still gives off more of a car vibe than that of an SUV. Whatever it is, it's large, seemingly similar in dimensions to the Rolls-Royce Spectre. Unlike the Brit, the Crown wears an asymmetric door layout: a small rear-hinged rear door exists on the passenger (left) side.
2025 Century Coupe Concept: All the Details
Cutting an imposing profile, the Century lets its generous surface areas do the talking, most of which are coated in the pretty Ember paint. This fiery hue takes no fewer than 60 layers for the finished product. A body-color hexagonal-pattern grille houses the traditional phoenix logo. The use of gloss black along the lower portions of the body along with the roof visually elongate the car, while also emphasizing the cab-rearward design. When the doors open, a large step the length of the opening folds out from the floor of the Crown.
Most interestingly, Toyota has removed the rear window, instead stretching the roof panel right down to the trunklid. Like its Lexus siblings, the Century spells its brand name out on the tail.
The Crown cabin is equally dramatic. Built for four adults, the center console isn't really a center console per se, but a plinth of real wood topped by a glass partition illuminated with long LED strands. Dark wood is everywhere, while the phoenix makes itself known on the center console and on the front seatbacks.
It's too early to talk powertrain in this new Century model. Given the vents on the hood however, it seems a safe bet to expect at the very least some of sort of gasoline-powered setup, likely hybrid. Like other cars which debuted at the show, the Century uses a yoke-type steering setup, with a curled digital instrument cluster sitting behind it.
Where Does Century Slot In?
Above Lexus. While Lexus has briefly flirted with higher-end models like the LFA, which listed for $375,000 in 2008 money), the Century brand will now be playing in that field. The other important distinction is focus: Century will remain a purely automotive outfit, while Lexus has more latitude to do things like a last-mile, single-person mobility device or an autonomous catamaran. Yes, Lexus showed an autonomous catamaran.
Is Century Coming to America?
That's a good question and, unfortunately, not one we can answer for certain yet. We suspect Toyota will continue to refine it the Century over the next 12 months however, so watch this space for any updates.
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Kyle began his automotive obsession before he even started school, courtesy of a remote control Porsche and various LEGO sets. He later studied advertising and graphic design at Humber College, which led him to writing about cars (both real and digital). He is now a proud member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), where he was the Journalist of the Year runner-up for 2021.
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They do realize that folks in the U.S. will associate the name with a former low-end Buick that was mostly a Chevy? Was Edsel taken?
The grill looks like a grate from a 1920s floor furnace.