New Toyota Century SUV Is Profoundly Weird (in a Cool Way)
It's a new take on a conservative Japanese tradition that happens to look like an unlicensed Rolls-Royce Cullinan copy.
For those unaware, and we're sure that many of you are unaware, Toyota has sold a super-luxury sedan called the Century in Japan since 1967. Think of something beyond the Lexus brand, closer to a sort of Japanese Rolls-Royce; earlier versions even had a V-12 engine. During that time, there have been only three generations of the stately four-door, which has long been intended to be chauffeur-driven and rooted both in traditional notions of Japanese luxury and Toyota's famously conservative approach to evolving its vehicles. The first-generation Century, after all, was sold in much the same form until 1997, a whopping 30-year run; the second-gen model lasted until 2017, a comparatively brief two decades. All of which should put in context how wildly deviant this newfangled SUV variant is to Toyota traditionalists.
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The first-ever Century SUV—and, again, only the fourth new Century in, well, half a century—won't supplant the current sedan.But it does make the traditional Century four-door look even more like automotive wallpaper than before, despite the two sharing boxy headlights, grille, and overall styling. Where those elements combine in humdrum ways on the staid sedan, they collate here as something vaguely reminiscent of Rolls-Royce's Cullinan SUV. Or, at least, one imagined as a generic knockoff for aGrand Theft Autovideo game looking to avoid paying licensing fees.
Like past Century models, the SUV is largely designed around its rear seat. This explains the vehicle's ponderous, bulbous back end, with more bodywork aft of the rear wheels than seems necessary. Note how the gently arcing rooftop peaks not in the center of the SUV, or over the front seat, but rather just above the rear passengers' heads. Also note the differences in luxuriousness of the front and rear seats; the back seat is Gulfstream-level, while the front-seat area, though certainly "nice," is merely Lexus-nice. After all, it's where the help rides.
Customization Is Included
One of the more shocking portions of Toyota's reveal of the new Century SUV arrived with the topic of customization. Toyota says you can expect the usual in this regard: Buyers can go ham on paint color options, interior materials, seating configurations, and the like. However, buyers can also change up core aspects of their Century, including swapping out the ultra-wide-opening rear doors, which swivel out up to 75 degrees, for minivan-likeslidingrear doors (which appear to leave a smaller egress opening than their traditional swinging alternatives, somehow). The sliding doors are novel and weirdly cool.
Toyota also will offer a more athletically styled GR version of the Century SUV, applying its Gazoo Racing sub-branding to the chauffeur-mobile for the first time. Like the sliding door thing, it's best not to think too hard about this one—why anyone would want a sportier car toridein is, at best, confusing—and instead just appreciate that the treatment's bigger wheels and blackout trim looks kind of neat. Another head-scratcher? During the Century's reveal, Toyota showed off a four-door convertible version—it was a way of demonstrating the anything-goes customization possibilities, butwhoa. Heretofore the only Century convertible we've known belongs to the Emperor of Japan.
TX Support?
So far, powertrain information is limited to generalities: A transverse-mounted 3.5-liter V-6 engine paired to a plug-in hybrid system and all-wheel drive are included, as is rear-wheel steering. The first parts of that list sound a lot like the specs for Lexus's all-new three-row TX SUV, which uses a similar setup with 406 hp and up to 33 miles of EV-only driving range in its top form. The relationship between this Century and the TX may be limited to a dimensional and mechanical relationship, as the TX is being built in America, while the Century SUV will be built at Toyota's Tahara plant in Japan. Just 30 will be built annually, meaning each one could be practically built from scratch, whether using the TX's hard points or not.
Per Toyota's specs, the Century also is as huge as the three-row TX, despite hosting two rows of seating for up to four adults. It measures a massive 204.9 inches long, 78.3 inches wide, and 71 inches tall. The wheelbase is awkwardly short given those other specs; at 116.1 inches, it's shorter than that of the midsize 2024 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan (and the same as the TX ... ). Rear passengers sit more or less atop the rear axle, far back in the cabin, which is why there appears to be more space back there than in an S-Class limousine.
If you think Toyota is missing out by not exporting the Century to global markets, think again. It's highly unlikely that, outside of Japan, the Century SUV's exacting form of luxury and focus on chauffeured travel, no matter how much heritage is wrapped up in it, would convince buyers to fork over the equivalent of 25,000,000 yen for one. That's around $170,000 at current exchange rates, deep into Bentley Bentayga, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, and other exotic SUV territory.
A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.
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