Toyota Crown adding SUV option for next generation

The Toyota Crown, a long-time favourite for 'grey import' buyers and a darling of many 'cars and coffee' meets, looks set to be reinvented as an SUV of sorts – and it could, just maybe, make its way to Australia.

These images, understood to be official design patent application files published in Japan, appear to reveal that the Crown will head into its 16th generation with a new high-riding design.

It is possible the jacked-up Crown will debut as a new variant alongside the traditional sedan – perhaps as the Crown Cross – with Japan's Best Car claiming a 'New Crown Sedan Plus' fastback sedan will also be offered.

No official images for that version have surfaced, but Best Car has published a speculative rendering of its own, shown below. A full gallery can be seen at the link above.

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Interestingly, Toyota's decision to embrace the global market trend for SUVs has resulted in 'four-door coupe' styling, rather than a wagon body – something the Crown had offered right up until the 2003 S180 launched in a sedan-only design.

Best Car reports that the new Crown – in sedan form at least – will measure 4930 millimetres long, stretching it beyond the 4910mm body of the current model.

The upcoming new design marks another key evolution point for the revered badge, following the 2018 launch of the most athletically styled Crown yet.

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The model debuted in 1955 as a family commuter car like any other, and it kept to a fairly conventional boxy look – if a dull one from around 2003 to 2018 – for most of the 66 years that followed.

Like the new-generation Camry, the current 15th-gen Crown is blessed with a more sporting design, giving fans of rear-wheel-drive turbo sedans something to think about. Those in Japan, that is.

This new look is understood to form part of a plan to bring the Crown to the global stage, with business publisher Reuters claiming to have had sources confirm plans for a debut in at least China and North America.

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The next Crown is expected to again be offered with a hybrid powertrain, along with plug-in hybrid EV and full-electric options. Reuters says the hybrid will debut next year, with the EV to follow in 2024.

New Toyota Crown for Australia?

The Crown hasn't been offered in Australia since 1988 (having at one stage even been assembled locally), and that was seven generations ago when AMI-Toyota became Toyota Motor Corporation Australia.

Toyota Australia as we know it today has never ruled the Crown out for a local launch, but with Lexus already tailored for Western markets, it has so far opted to pass on the option (although it has never confirmed if Toyota HQ would even make it available if requested).

The company does own the Crown trademark in Australia for passenger vehicles (unrelated to the US-based Crown forklifts sold here, an industry Toyota also competes in), and while that could be a hint, it's also common practice to retain useful trademarks rather than let them fall into rival hands.

Still, if this new generation is indeed headed for a wider global audience, Australia could finally be on the invites list.

The local arm, for its part, has not commented on the matter.