By the way, the new Crown that Toyota has announced in a sense with company luck. Of course, it seems to be generally unpopular with old users who were looking for the old so-called "crown-like thing", but this must have been prepared by Toyota. The true aim of this time is to make the Crown, which was almost a "Japanese car" until now, into a global strategic car. To put it more clearly, I would like to make CROWN the second LEXUS.

There are four types of models: crossover (5-door with increased vehicle height released this time), sports (mini SUV = Macan-like), sedan (formal sedan close to the old Crown), and estate (full-size SUV = Cayenne-like). announced at the same time. First release from crossover.

Well, it's a crossover, but overall I was conscious of the Taycan and Panamera-style silhouettes, and I guess it's a little lifted up, but it doesn't look like an SUV at all in the picture. Even if you look at the catalog, there is no specific explanation such as how many millimeters higher the minimum ground clearance is than a general sedan. When it comes to crossovers, that's really important. Looking at the data in the specification table, the minimum ground clearance is 145mm, and the minimum ground clearance of the old crown was 135-140mm in the first place, so it has hardly changed. In other words, although it is actually called a crossover, it is not lifted up, and in fact it is almost a "sedan with a high vehicle height". However, that would not sell well and would not change the image, so I blacked out the underbody and named it a crossover to sell it like an SUV. Isn't that what it really is? The overall height has increased by 8cm from 1,460mm to 1,540mm, so maybe this part is called an SUV. However, the total height is set so that it does not exceed 1550 mm, which is suitable for many multi-story parking lots, and the real life feeling is hidden.

Naturally, the rear adopts a trendy straight tail lamp. This is also a design that Porsche pioneered, but Toyota has been using it proudly recently. The two-tone specification is also a big feature of this time that most of the rear is black, which is quite unique. However, it seems that people have different tastes when they rub against young people and make the hood black. Although it is a hatchback, the trunk room seems to be independent, and it is Taycan style.

The front was also designed to have nothing to do with the crown. In a sense, the design itself may be easy for young people to accept.

The rear of the actual car looks like this. Like the recent VOLVO, the CROWN logo has become more fashionable with the letters separated.

It seems that many people say that the interior is a little cheap, but the steering design is also quite Japanese car feeling. The crown mark itself has been renewed, but it feels strange if this exterior design is equipped with this marked steering wheel.

Even in the interior, the texture of this center console with a strong plastic feel is unpopular. Certainly it seems that piano wood was good here. I think it's a matter of cost.

  

It seems that this is the final design sketch, but even if you look at the actual car, the reproducibility of the design is quite high. I think the side view design is pretty good.

Steering design study. If you erase the crown mark, the impression will change. If the pad is a little smaller on the left side, it may be attached to a European car. With that in mind, the brand logo is really important. By the way, the overseas version of the steering was the Toyota mark. It seems that only Japan uses the crown mark.

But overall, I personally think it's a great challenge. There are many things we couldn't do due to cost issues, but I think we've created a new image, and I think there's a good chance that we'll be like LEXUS depending on the development of the three models in the future. I think it took courage and decision to abandon the "old crown".

One thing I'm interested in is how the name "CROWN" is perceived by foreigners. For us, the Crown has long been imprinted as "the name of that car," so we can no longer judge what the word CROWN really sounds like.