After abandoning the Avalon, Toyota is not throwing in the towel with large sedans on the North American market. The Japanese manufacturer is offering a new recipe in 2023 with the Toyota Crown.
Here are five things to know about it.
Half sedan, half SUV
It is well known that traditional cars are less and less popular, consumers preferring to turn to utility models. In an attempt to reverse the trend, Toyota had the funny idea of giving the new Crown a little SUV look.
Photo: Toyota
The sedan is thus equipped with a raised suspension and plastic fender towers, which gives it a little adventurous look. Also note the presence of a plastic protector at the bottom of the doors. This strategy is reminiscent of the one used by Honda with the Accord Crosstour, briefly marketed in Canada from 2012 to 2014.
All-wheel drive is standard, another proof that Toyota seems to want to seduce SUV buyers.
Photo: Toyota
Standard hybrid
Regardless of the version chosen, the Toyota Crown is only available with a hybrid engine. This is not a big surprise, since several models recently launched by Toyota in Canada adopt this strategy. This is particularly the case with the Venza, the Sequoia and the Sienna.
Two engines are on the menu, depending on the version chosen. The XLE and Limited versions use a 2.5-liter block paired with two electric motors. Toyota has not yet mentioned the power of this powertrain, but it announces a very enviable average consumption of 6.2 L/100 km.
The Platinum variant, at the top of the range, instead uses a 2.4-liter turbo engine, again married to two electric motors. We’re talking here about 340 horsepower and fuel consumption of around 8.4 L/100 km. Toyota also specifies that this version is equipped with a more advanced all-wheel drive system that distributes power between the front and rear wheels from 70-30 to 20-80.
Photo: Toyota
Technology at the service of security
The 2023 Toyota Crown will come standard with the Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 driver assistance technology package, the most advanced version offered by the manufacturer. This includes in particular a lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, a lane keeping assistance system, automatic high beams as well as an automatic braking system in the event of an imminent collision with pedestrian detection.
On board, the Crown comes with 12.3-inch digital instrumentation behind the steering wheel, then a touchscreen of the same size in the center of the console.
Photo: Toyota
A legendary name
The Crown name is an integral part of Toyota’s history. The appellation first appeared in 1955 with the Toyopet Crown. Since then, 15 generations of the model have succeeded.
However, it has been 50 years since a Crown model was marketed in North America. We can therefore understand if his name is unknown to many drivers here who were not even born at the time!
Photo: Toyota
Available this fall
The 2023 Toyota Crown will be available in Quebec dealerships in the fall of 2022. Its price range has not yet been confirmed at the time of this writing.