Toyota Unveils a Century Concept to Launch Its Ultra-Luxury Aspirations

Well, October 13 came, and the hype built up around Toyota’s potential announcement of a new supercar turned out to be slightly disappointing to performance-car fans. It wasn't all a bust, though, as the automaker instead announced a new ultra-luxury brand to, once again, shock the world when it comes to what a Japanese car company can do. Indeed, Century is born and its One of One Concept represents the brand's design direction through a bespoke coupe-body SUV with a pair of sliding passenger doors.

In other words, the Century One of One Concept shows where Toyota is going with its ultra-luxury ambitions. Rather than being a traditional luxury SUV or sedan, Toyota went for a coupe-like style with a muscular but modern design. Via the image with a low front view, you can see it rides rather high and wears a set of large wheels. The side view shows the coupe roof that extends to the rear of the One of One’s body. There is no rear window, but that only gives a hint that this won’t be your typical luxury SUV.

See All 11 Photos11

The car's main party trick is a pair of sliding doors on the passenger side. The driver’s side, by comparison, utilizes traditional hinge points and there is no extra door. The larger of the two doors open forward while the smaller rear door moves rearward, revealing an extra-spacious aperture. From the looks of the darkened teaser, a step bar will also extend downward so passengers won’t have to put in extra effort to climb up into the Century SUV. The driver will command the One of One using a yoke-style steering wheel with a center console separating the front occupants. Well, sort of front occupants, that is.

See All 11 Photos11

The shadowy image shows us another quirk of the One of One Concept: the front passenger sits rearward of the driver and offers legroom someone the size of Shaquille O’Neal would love. At least that’s what we infer from the image as it doesn’t look like there is another front seat in a folded position ahead of it. There is space for at least one or maybe two rear passengers, but we really want to see how Century intends to give the second rear passenger legroom (if that really is the “front” passenger seat). The rear passenger-side rider would need to sit deep inside the rear coupe greenhouse, or that oddly placed front seat needs to move equally as far forward as it does backward.

Toyota doesn’t mention what the Century One of One might have under its hood and none of the rear images show tailpipes. There does seem to be a telltale of a central hump in the passenger-compartment floor. That makes it possible this isn’t a battery-electric vehicle but one that could be powered by a conventional engine or even a hybrid setup.

In the bigger corporate picture, Century is part of Toyota Motor Company's new hierarchy that will debut at the Japan Mobility Show (formerly known as the Tokyo Auto Show). While Lexus is and will remain a luxury brand, Century will lead as Toyota's ultra-luxury mark, with Rolls Royce and Bentley in its crosshairs. We expect to learn more about Century and its One of One Concept closer to the show, but Toyota is certainly looking to shake the luxury world just as it did with the original Lexus LS.