Toyota To Take On Rolls Royce With New Century

Just take one look at Toyota’s new ultra-luxurious Century SUV and you could be forgiven for thinking that Japan’s No 1 carmaker is trying to compete with Rolls Royce. Because it is.

The all-new Century SUV is marginally smaller than a Rolls Royce Cullinan, employs a 3.5-liter V6 plug-in hybrid engine compared to the Rolls’ 6.7-liter V12, offers almost identical levels of luxury and plushness, but will land in showrooms for less than half the Cullinan’s price. That’s right, the Century SUV will retail at around 25 million yen, or around $170,000 at today’s exchange rate, in contrast to the Cullinan’s starting price of around $390,000.

Now although Toyota will never say that their new super luxurious SUV is a direct Cullinan competitor, the Japanese brand will, for the first time, be marketing the luxury crossover outside of Japan. So, in the real world, the Century SUV will compete with the Cullinan in certain markets including the Middle East.

Aesthetic impressions are subjective of course, but dare we say it—we feel that the Century SUV is as well-proportioned as the Cullinan but its front end is sharper, better looking and less ostentatious. This is definitely a step in the right direction because the Century sedan, throughout its 55 year history and three generations, has changed very little in the design department—continuing to look very much like a Japanese version of a Russian Zil limousine.

So hang on, what is the Century all about? Japan’s ultimate limousine started life as a purely domestically-sold sedan in 1967, and as a result, it is barely known outside of Japan. The new Century SUV model that joined the lineup in autumn 2023, will, according to Toyota, be simply called the “Century” where as the established four-door model will take on the moniker of “Century Sedan.” That, we feel, could be confusing for the market, because most international and domestic media who covered the launch, seem hellbent on calling the new model ‘Century SUV.’

Since Japan’s premium limousine debuted, it has gone through three generations, starting with a 4.0-liter V8 for the first version from 1967-92, then introducing Japan’s first-ever dedicated and only 5.0-liter V12 engine from 1997-2017, and finally to the current V8-hybrid powered Century sedan that was launched in 2018.

How popular is the Century? Japan’s movers and shakers have all, at one or another, been chauffeured around in a Century. From prime ministers to captains of industry to movie and sporting stars, Japan’s premier saloon has carried them all. Toyota even made a bespoke Century Royal version for the Emperor.

Wanting to show that it is serious about environmental concerns, Toyota has not carried over the saloon version’s V8 hybrid but instead decided to power the 2.6-ton Century SUV with a 406-hp 3.5-liter V6 plug-in hybrid powertrain that incorporates all-wheel-drive and four-wheel-steer.

The SUV is a four-seater rather than a five-seater like the limousine and Toyota has clearly focused on giving back-seat passengers plenty of luxury and space—with two enormous captain chairs—in addition to an easy time when getting in and out. The doors open to an unusually wide 75-degree angle and there’s a convenient side step.

The all-new design slant of the Century SUV, that takes a very different direction to the conservatively styled saloon model by appearing to employ styling hints from the Rolls Royce Cullinan, is a definite step in the right direction, and one that is a necessity if the brand really does want to export the Century.

The only powertrain Toyota has at launch will be the V6 plug-in hybrid, which will generate significantly better fuel economy than the V12 Cullinan. At the launch event in Japan however, Yoshikazu Tanaka, chief engineer of the Toyota Mirai hydrogen-powered fuel-cell car, was introduced as one of the three top engineers of the new Century. And to me, that signifies one thing—that Toyota is seriously considering adding a fuel-cell version of the Century when the time is right.

Although to be honest, while the Century is a firmly established model in Japan, and is known as a Toyota, I somehow feel that the ultra-luxurious nature of the new Century SUV is more suited to the Lexus brand rather than Toyota, especially in international markets, where brand means a lot. After all, launch the Century SUV through Toyota dealers in export markets and it will be seen in the same showrooms as a Corolla, Camry, RAV4 and Yaris. To me, something’s not quite right there.