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For more than 50 years the Toyota Century’s been a Japan-only car that over the years probably sits somewhere in between Mercedes-Benz S Class, BMW 7 Series, Bentley Motors Flying Spur, Arnage, Turbo (old) Mulsanne and Rolls Royce Cars Silver Shadow, Silver Spur, Silver Spirit, Silver Seraph and the fairly new Ghost. It’s a cultural thing. The British are into their Connelly hided interiors, the Germans making cars that last on the Autobahn, while the Japanese care less about leather to prefer lambs wool, but get it when it comes to horsepower and handling.
For the last 50 years Toyota Century sat on two different sequential platforms, and after over 20 years on the last, has an all new third version out. It’s impressive. His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan and his family and probably the Japanese Prime Minister are driven around in these beauties.
What disappoints me is that Toyota hasn’t taken it globally and hasn’t rebranded it Lexus that it should be. Lexus is now Toyota's luxury brand, why haven’t they made their premiere top of the line flagship Toyota saloon a Lexus, finally?
I have driven a Lexus LS 460L to be quite impressed with its handling to often wonder what the Century is like.
With tweaks and changes this could have been Lexus’ Spur or Ghost killer to sit on top of the LS in the lineup, and could have been assembled customer bespoke made to order globally. The car however remains a Toyota and only for Japan. Perhaps this is why there will be no change.
Understandably Toyota may want to keep the Century for themselves in the home market.
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Comments
The 2018 Toyota Century is
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The 2018 Toyota Century is better than Rolls Royce and Bentley. Toyota is such a dope brand lol jake of all trades.
The new 2018 Toyota Century
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The new 2018 Toyota Century is ugly. I’d rather have a Buick Century.
Sorry, but compared with RR
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Sorry, but compared with RR the car is a joke. It’s done for the Japanese market only cause it wouldn’t be successful at all on the global market. It was specifically done for Japanese customers and their needs and not for the Russian/US/UAE market.
As much I love Toyota and Lexus I still have to say that the cars are not better than any new Rolls Royce.
If that’s true all the more
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In reply to Sorry, but compared with RR by Roman (not verified)
If that’s true all the more reason to globalize the car and export it if RR is a “joke” as a comparison.
Again, it’s not all about America. There’s an Asian and Latin American market where this car if done correctly might sell.
Look at the body of the 2018
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Look at the body of the 2018 Toyota Century. This car is stuck in the 80s with that body.
It really does look like a
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It really does look like a 1980s Lincoln or Buick. I do understand however why they kept the Toyota name though. It is like the Nissan GT-R. You would have expected that the most expensive Nissan would be badged as an Infiniti, but I think because these cars are the top flagship models that they proudly keep the parent company's name. It is interesting that the redesigned Toyota Century uses the Lexus 600h's hybrid drive train.
Lexus would have to change
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Lexus would have to change the front end to fit with the line up of cars. Plus they have the LS so no need for another big car
That’s US market thinking. I
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In reply to Lexus would have to change by Paul (not verified)
That’s US market thinking. I’m thinking globally and it’s not all about us Americans.
Toyota Century's drivetrain
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Toyota Century's drivetrain is a Lexus LS500h. Toyota and Lexus keep their branding separate, always have done, why should they change now?
If you make a luxury brand
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In reply to Toyota Century's drivetrain by Ben (not verified)
If you make a luxury brand then the progression is to keep your most luxurious things under that brand.
The Century is their halo
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In reply to Toyota Century's drivetrain by Ben (not verified)
The Century is their halo flagship saloon. That’s like selling that at your Chevy dealer next to a Chevy delivery truck. But as I mentioned in the article that most here seemed to overlook, it may be cultural why they don’t give it to Lexus.
This was an idea of taking what is just a car on a platform and modifying it like you. can do with all of them, to become Lexus’ halo since Toyota spent billions to create Lexus, that’s all.
The Toyota Century is a
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The Toyota Century is a limosine that adheres to Japanese design culture. It's wrong to even compare it to RR. Rolls Royce looks good roaming around EU and some other parts of the world. It would look out of place in Japan. The Japanese are very proud of there motor cars. You would never see anything other than Toyota Century or to a lesser extent, the now discontinued Nissan President, used by Imperial Household Agency. Also not mentioned, the Century is mostly hand made. I personally think it's a beautiful motor car. Then again, I did live in Japan for a couple years. So I'm a little biased.
That’s not for us to decide
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In reply to The Toyota Century is a by Igor (not verified)
Then what else to compare it to? It’s a car!
It’s a car most suitable for chauffeured driving like RR.That’s not for us to decide that’s for Rolls Royce and why they sell in Japan.
“Hand made:” I used the word bespoke which means made to order. Being bespoke makes it quite flexible for many variants.
And if you read carefully I cmmmented on their being cultural issues why perhaps the car was never exported.