The Toyota Century SUV Is For Nice People

The whole point of the original Century, Toyota says, was to provide the Japanese chauffeur market a domestic alternative to all the usual Western luxury saloon cars. Fast forward to today, though, and there are an increasing number of ultra-posh SUVs infiltrating the sector, so it should come as no surprise that the Century has morphed into such a vehicle.

Before you panic, Toyota has confirmed that the new Century SUV is to be sold alongside the current Century saloon, rather than replace it outright. Phew. 

While our preference would be the saloon, it’s refreshing to see a luxury SUV that’s just a bit less ostentatious. In the press release, Toyota uses words like “majestic” and “dignified” to describe the car, which owes a lot to the Century saloon in its design, while also looking a bit like a more subtle Rolls-Royce Cullinan. If you see someone getting out of the rear of one of these, we reckon they’re more likely to be a nice person. Maybe.

The rear of the cabin is, of course, the whole point of the car. It’s accessed via doors that open to a 75-degree angle for easier ingress and egress, aided further by an automatically retracting footstep and an optional sliding door.

Once inside, passengers can enjoy fully reclining seats, a “refreshment function” and an audio system developed using “the finely honed auditory sensibilities and exemplary techniques of a musical instrument manufacturing master,” no less. What does seem to be missing is an old Century staple - curtains.

Although it looks a lot like the century saloon, it’s very different underneath, being built on Toyota’s widely used TNGA platform. Instead of a longitudinally mounted V8, it gets a transversely arranged 3.5-litre V6 hybrid powertrain providing 406bhp and an electric-only range of up to 43 miles. More than enough, then, to waft across Tokyo in near silence to your client’s destination.

The price is 25,000,000 yen, which is about £135,000. There’s even a GR version, which is presumably a little more. And no, you can’t buy any version of the Century SUV outside of Japan. Sorry.